You're on Your Own, Pal Part 3
by leafs nation
Summary: She made it to Wellington - a supposed safe place in Michigan; full of water, good land and supplies. But a piece of Clementine's past life has come back, and it isn't fitting in as smoothly as she'd like it to. As tensions rise and truths are unveiled, can she stay strong? Is anyone truly safe in this world anymore? AU, Completed!
1. Changed, but still the same

"He's up top again, isn't he?" I ask, watching as the sunset beats off of his forehead; revealing a big, nasty-looking scar that stretches from just below his eye down to the bottom of his jaw line. I had never noticed it before, but whatever wound he suffered through must've been really painful.

"Hasn't come down for a couple of hours," Lilly comments, shaking her head. "I don't know why, though. He finished up his guard duty and even brought some of the guys a rabbit for dinner. He didn't eat any of it though."

"Maybe I should go talk to him," I comment, shrugging my shoulders.

"Suit yourself," the older woman replies; her eyes droopy and worn-down from years of stress. "Are you walking around okay though? It looked like you were still limping this morning."

"I'll be fine."

"That's what you always say," Lilly sighs, waving goodbye before retiring to her tent. Sometimes it seems like she tries to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders – I can't imagine what that'd be like. The least I can do is not to burden her with my problems too.

Hobbling my way over to the metal staircase, I climb upwards as the crutches bang against each step. If he doesn't know that it's me who's coming, then something's definitely wrong.

"Lee?" I ask worriedly, setting the crutches down as I sit beside him. "I wanted to check on you… make sure you were okay."

Giving me a half smile, Lee waves it off and tries (but fails) to reassure me that he's fine.

"No, you're not," I say defiantly, swinging my good leg back and forth in the air while my arms rest on the railing. "You've been here at the camp for a whole day and we haven't talked at all. What's going on?"

By sitting on his left side, I can get a better view of his… injury, and I still shake my head in amazement. How he was still alive is completely beyond me, but the fact that I'm able to sit beside him… the fact that despite all the odds, we both ended up at the same place… that's going to take a while to settle into my brain. Don't get me wrong, I was overjoyed when he showed up yesterday, and I wanted to smother him when he started crying uncontrollably.

But right now… he seems, different. He looks a lot more distant than he used to, and the burning hatred for Kenny came back even stronger than what I remembered (though thankfully Lee had just walked away from him without a word). Lee Everett is definitely not the same man that I knew two years ago.

Something changed.

"You always were the perceptive one, Holmes," Lee jokes, referring back to that one day at the motor-inn. "I'm just trying to figure things out, that's all. I'm not used to being in a big group like this."

"But we were in one before," I remark, confused as to how this could be much different. We sure as hell fight amongst each other as much as before.

"I barely even remember what that was like, to tell you the truth," he says, resting his chin on the metal bar. "Hell, I barely remember who _I was _before all of this."

"What happened… Lee, where have you been this whole time?"

Staring off into the sunset, his eyes grow focused and dark, as if bringing back a flood of bad memories that he tried to keep buried for a very long time.

Figuring that he'd talk when he was ready, I let the subject drop as I re-examine my foot… or what used to be my foot. Now it's just a mangled stump. Kenny tried to put something on it when we first got here, but apparently I was in so much trauma and flailing about so violently that he couldn't set it straight on me. Arvo mentioned that he might try his luck with putting a replacement on soon, and frankly I can't wait. I feel useless like this.

I guess Lee kind of feels the same way.

"I'm so sorry, Clementine," he whispers, looking down at my leg. "You shouldn't have ever had to go through something like that – not at your age."

"Yeah, well… I guess we're both a couple of cripples now," I joke, trying to lighten the mood a little bit. Thankfully, it seems to work, as Lee chuckles slightly while nodding his head in agreement. "At least Kenny cut it off me in time; otherwise I probably wouldn't be here."

Instantly, Lee's expression darkens again, and I can see a faint frown growing upon his brow. I know that they didn't get along much, but what the hell could've happened to spark so much tension here?

"Lee," I say gently, placing a hand upon his stumpy arm, "What happened with you two? You can tell me, I'm your friend."

"It was just after you had left," he begins suddenly, placing his chin in his hand. "I figured I was a goner no matter what, so I wanted to take the easy way out…"

_Lee's POV_

"_Damn it… fuck…" I swear, cursing my misfortune as I gaze down at the bite wound upon my arm. Clementine's parents are laid in a heap beside me, and the gun rests in my other hand while the hatchet sits a few feet away from me. I can only see one option from this – and it's the way it's gotta be. _

_I've already said my last goodbyes to the people that matter, so all there's left to do now is to end it._

_But there's still a big part of me that wishes it could see Clementine's cute, smiling face one last time. God, I hope they'll be alright…_

_Raising the barrel of the gun to my head, I close my eyes and try to picture the happier times in my life. Getting married, buying a house, landing my job at the university… meeting Clementine._

_God, that little girl just became my entire world._

_Taking a deep breath, I turn the safety off and…_

"_What the fuck are you doing?!"_

_Instantly opening my eyes, I can't believe what I'm seeing. The same asshole that I literally thought had died is standing right beside me; looking as angry as ever._

"_Kenny, I – "_

"_I told you to take care of the fucking kids! What the hell did you do with Duck?! Where is he, you irresponsible, prick?! WHERE'S MY SON?!"_

"_I'M BITTEN YOU SON OF A BITCH!" I scream at him, standing up and shoving him out of my face, fists clenched at my sides. I'm pretty sure that if I spend one more minute with this asshole, I'm literally going to lose my mind. "I told Lilly to take the kids with her… to get them somewhere safe. So don't go blaming this shit on me, because I'm fucked either way!"_

"…_how the hell did you manage to do that?"_

_Not the response I was hoping for at all, Kenny. He doesn't apologize or even look remotely saddened by the fact that I'm going to die. Instead, once again he points out what a colossal failure I am. _

_Maybe he's right about it, too._

_Gesturing to the two dead bodies on the ground, Kenny just shakes his head and huffs out a sigh of annoyance. Of all the people to be stuck with on my last day on Earth, it just had to be the one I despise the most. _

_It wasn't always this way, of course. During the first couple of weeks, believe it or not, Kenny and I were like the best of friends. We helped each other out, watched each other's backs, and even joked around when things got light. Hell, I even remember when I shared some of my food rations and a spare beer with the guy._

_But then it all started to fall apart at that fucking dairy._

_Lines were drawn and crossed over, friendships were replaced with distrust and anger, and people were isolated. I can't remember the last time I talked to Katjaa before she died, and the only conversations I'd ever have with Duck were about food. _

_And don't even get me started on what talking to this guy was like. That last supply run before he took off in the RV was just awful._

"_So… what? You're just gonna end it? Just like that?"_

"_What other choice do I have, Kenny?" I ask, relieved that he's calmed down a little bit. Maybe the realization's kicking in. "I've got my hatchet for chopping my head in case I'd rather go that way, or the gun which would be quick and painless. Seems pretty obvious to me."_

"_Jesus Christ…" he murmurs, placing his hands on his hips as he examines the hatchet. "Well, what if you tried cutting it off? What harm could it be in just attempting, especially if it actually works?"_

"_There's a hell of a lot of harm to be done!" I yell incredulously, though pondering the idea for a moment. What if I'm quick enough? Maybe I'd end up dying later anyways, but perhaps it could at least buy me some time. Though I'd absolutely hate travelling with the man, Kenny and I might be able to catch up to Clem, Lilly and Duck… if we can find out where they went, of course._

"_Fuck it," I announce, rolling up my sleeve with a little hesitation. "Cut it off. If there's a chance, then I've gotta take it."_

"_Why can't you do it yourself – "_

"_Just cut the damn thing!"_

_Swearing under his dirty moustache, Kenny orders me to lay my arm against the wall so that he won't miss. It certainly doesn't encourage me by any means, but reluctantly I do it anyway._

_This is really going to hurt…_

"_Ready for this, asshole?" Kenny asks, holding the hatchet in the air._

_Nodding quickly, I squeeze my eyes shut as hard as I can and brace for impact. "Just make sure to find some bandages and shit to cover this up afterwards, alright? I don't want to bleed out or anything."_

_All goes quiet for a moment, and it's almost as if time itself has frozen. The anticipation is killing me, and I want this to be over as quickly as possible._

_The first thing I feel is fire – blood-soaked, burning in my arm that absolutely destroys my nervous system as it reacts to the blow. I know that I'm screaming, but I can't even hear myself think. My body's going numb with electricity at jolts of pain spread throughout me, and right now I would want nothing more than to just turn all of my senses off so that this nightmare might end. _

_Two more blows to my arm is all that it takes, and as I collapse against the wall in sheer agony, I clutch my limb in shock. What used to be a hand and a forearm is now a big, bloody stump that's erupting like a volcano. It's so disgusting to look at, but for some reason I can't turn away. It's like one of those horror movies that I used to make my brother watch with me growing up, except this time the horror is real. _

_The proof rests on the ground beside me, as the fingers still twitch even though they've been cut off from the rest of my body._

_How I haven't passed out yet from blood loss is shocking, but as my screams get more intense as the pain increases, I notice that Kenny is actually telling me to shut up. Yeah, that's right – I get my fucking hand cut off and he expects me to keep quiet. I swear, the nerve of this guy…_

"_OH GOD!" I scream out, my words garbled and mashed together. _

"_Shut the fuck up, Lee!" Kenny yells, pulling his gun out, "You're bringing them right on top of us!"_

_Sure enough, the sound of my wails has sent over dozens more lurkers towards the fence; their combined weight will soon bring the whole thing down. Their deformed, undead limbs are poking through the chain-link fence relentlessly as they try to snatch me up. I wonder if they can smell the blood on me, too._

_Kenny fires a couple of bullets before reloading and preparing to shoot again, when for some reason he stops. Looking up at him, I can tell that he's nervous about what's going to happen next. Is it the walkers he's afraid of? That they're going to have us surrounded soon enough and that he won't have enough ammunition to kill them all off? Or is there something else going on here?_

_Taking one fearful look towards me, I know exactly what he plans to do._

"_I'm sorry," he whispers harshly, not meaning his words, "but you're on your own, pal."_

"_WRAGHHH!" I scream out bloody murder, watching as he quickly starts to make a beeline into one of the alleyways nearby. "KENNY!"_

_The groans of the walkers get louder as I yell after him, vowing revenge if I ever get lucky enough to make it out of this shit. Clem was always my good luck charm, but she's not here anymore. Nobody's around at all. I'm stuck here with a chopped-off hand, a big group of walkers trying to eat me, and no help whatsoever._

_And yet the only thing on my mind right now is how that bastard screwed me over once again._

"_KENNY YOU FUCKER!" I bellow, my voice echoing off the buildings. "ROT IN HELL YOU SON OF A BITCH! YOU HEAR ME?! FUCK! YOU! AGHHHHHHH!"_

_Feeling the energy slowly slipping away, I realize that I must be passing out from the blood loss. Hmph, it's about time, too, because I probably would've gotten strep throat from yelling at the old bastard so much. _

_The last thing I see before I black out is a blonde girl with a grappling hook at her side slowly approaching me._

"_You aren't dying on my watch, big guy," she says as I fade into darkness._

"…" I struggle to find any words to say, as everything gets stuck in my throat. How could that have happened? What drove Kenny to the point where he'd leave him behind like that? So that's what he meant when he said he'd done this before… but he wouldn't have even thought of leaving me behind.

Would he?

"It was Molly who found me," Lee explains, continuing as if nothing big had happened. "She heard me yelling after Kenny and came rushing over. She brought me to a room, patched me up and waited with me for a time. We stayed in Savannah for about two months until we couldn't find anything left worth taking."

"Where is she now?" I ask, not really expecting a good outcome to this story. Lee's lowered head answers that question.

"It was my fault, I… I couldn't save her from those monsters…"

"Walkers?"

"No, people, if you could even call them human. It was a year after we left Savannah. Tracey, Marco, Greg, Morgan, Joseph…" he spits, hissing their names as if it's a poison in his mouth. "They… they shot her to pieces. I should've known not to trust those kinds of people, not after the St. John's… They stuck me outside a van and made me watch as they beat her before finally ending it… It was horrible, and I couldn't do a damn thing!"

_Lee's POV… Again_

"_How, do you like it, bitch?! That'll teach you for taking shit that don't belong to you!" Joseph sneers, hitting Molly in the side angrily while she squirms trying to get away. But it's no use. They have her surrounded with no hope of escape, while Greg holds my shirt collar and makes me witness the whole thing._

"_Get the fuck off of her! I swear to motherfucking Christ I'll bury you all in the – OOF!" I don't get to finish my sentence as Greg smacks me over the side of the head with the butt end of my pistol, which he had abruptly taken away after noticing I still had it on me. Once I'm on the ground, I grunt out painfully as he takes a knife and cuts deep into my skin. It leaves a long, jagged cut down the side of my face that will never properly heal, resulting in a huge scar that will never go away. Greg is by far the most brutal of the bunch, as even though he isn't actually hurting Molly, he had originally suggested the idea. He fancies himself as the leader of this gang of trash._

"_Keep it goin' boys! Let's see how many swings you get in before this here egg cracks!" he snickers evilly, rallying his troops as they prepare for another assault. I have to stop this somehow, even if it's the most below-the-belt, cheap trick I can possibly come up with._

_This has to work, and I need to kill them all._

_Tripping Greg is easy enough, as I simply swing my legs back and forcibly knock him off balance. The others are too interested in killing Molly to notice me, so I punch him with the only hand I've got left. I don't stop until his face is a bloody mess… but I let him live. Just long enough to see how his world is crumbling around him._

_Picking my pistol back up, I fire at Morgan and Tracey's throats, who both go down quickly while succumbing to their wounds. Marco pitifully tries to fire at me, but he's too shaken up by his buddies' deaths to really get off a decent shot. Two shots to the chest takes him down, but Joseph…_

_He take his rifle, aims it at Molly who's helplessly trying to get away, and fires – two rounds in the legs, one in the torso and one in the shoulder. Molly's no longer moving._

"_NOOOOOOO!" I scream out, rage painted on my face as I tackle Joseph to the ground; pinning him down with my body weight while strangling him with my right arm. I see his eyes go wide as he struggles for air; clawing at my sides pathetically as the life drains away from him._

_As soon as I'm finished with him, I sit down right beside Molly as she utters her final words to me._

"_Wellington… remember… go there… safe…"_

"_I… I will, Molly. I swear I will. I'm so sorry this happened to you."_

_Weakly, she points towards her grappling hook, which is sitting in a pile along with all the rest of our stuff._

"_Take it… with you… good luck…"_

_Collapsing, the life dims from her eyes, and I quickly fire a shot to her head. For some reason, it isn't quite as impactful as I had previously thought. No tears, no anguish, no getting swallowed up by grief. It's as if I've… just come to accept that this is the way the world works now, and I've just been tempered so much by the cruel reality of our world that I've become almost immune to death and destruction. It's all around us, and it's just a normal part of our lives now._

_Picking up my backpack and dumping the remnants of Molly's in as well, I pick up the hook and debate on whether or not to end the rest of them._

_I slowly walk towards the broken heap of Greg, who's basically pleading for his life._

"_Come on, man…" he begs, blood trickling out of his broken nose, "Don't do this shit! I can… help you out! I'll make it up to you somehow, just… don't let them get to me."_

_Hearing the low moans of his fresh-faced walker friends, I go down a path that I've never travelled before. I swore back in Macon, that I'd never let darkness consume me ever again – that the man who killed the state senator and his ex-wife was dead and gone._

_But that night, I realized that he had never left._

"_No."_

_Walking away, I let Tracey, Morgan, Marco and Joseph feast upon Greg as he screams into the night._

"I didn't even hesitate…" Lee reminisces, his words full of regret and self-hatred. "The only thing on my mind was getting revenge. I thought that I did Molly a service by letting him get killed like that, but it just made things worse… I spent the next year completely alone – no groups, partners, nothing. Originally, Molly and I were planning on heading up here after seeing a bulletin board sign, so that's what I planned to do. Walked all the way here - hardly slept, ate only if I had to, and didn't interact with anyone until I came here."

"…well, you're not alone anymore," I reply, still absorbing all of this information. "You're not a bad guy – you took care of me for all that time and never once let me down."

"Clem… sweet pea, you don't get it. That night… you don't get to take something like that back. I can't forgive myself, and I don't think I'm ever going to."

"Well, I forgive you," I say soothingly, placing my hand upon his knee in a comforting manner. "We all make mistakes, Lee. It doesn't have to make you a bad man… even though it's hard…"

I swallow a little bit guiltily, still thinking about the whole Carver thing that now seems very similar to what Lee went through. I don't plan on ever telling him about all that – it'd just confuse him and make him worried about me.

"Heh, you sound like Carley," he notes, drumming his fingers along the railing.

Sighing slightly, I lean my head against his shoulder sadly, drawing from his warmth as the sun slowly dips under the horizon.

"I missed this," Lee comments, frowning slightly as he sees some of my friends go into their tents. "I'm glad you're with me again, Clementine. God knows I needed you back."

Sighing contently, I nod my head against his arm and close my eyes, not wanting to ruin this moment.

"I missed you too."

_AN: How's it going, my favourite people! I'm baaaaaaacccccckkkkk! Due to popular demand, I'm going to try and create a part three! This chapter was just mostly focusing on what Lee had to go through, but don't worry. I'm going to try and put in a bunch of new stuff with Wellington – it won't just be Motor-Inn 2.0_

_Anyway, let me know what you guys thought of this so far! Reviews are always awesome, so keep doing them! Please? I'll be your BFF! _


	2. Lessons

_AN: Pardon my French, but holy shit! Ten reviews after one chapter?! That's insane! I'm so glad you guys are enjoying this as much as I am – here comes the next chapter! Btw if you have any questions, or are confused about what I've written, just shoot me a message and I'll answer ya _

"You're not gonna make me do homework, are you?" I complain as Lee hands me a book on (what else?) American history. The thing looks so thick that it'd probably kill a person if you dropped it high enough, which also means I won't remember half the stuff in here. I know that Lee loved teaching back in the day, but what's the point in learning this stuff anymore? It's not as if it's going to matter to a walker that you know about the American Civil War!

And why did he invite Sarah, too?

"It's not like that," Lee explains, sitting across from Sarah and I inside one of the tents. "But this stuff is important – it's a good thing to know about your country's past. History in general is meaningful, because it can cause you to appreciate what you have, and to learn from our mistakes."

I really want to make some crack about people back then not having to deal with walkers everywhere they went, but that probably wouldn't go over very well. Besides, Sarah's already started reading the first chapter of this stupid thing, and I don't want to take her hobby away from her. Sarah sure does love to read.

"Where's everyone else?" I ask, flipping through pages while trying to look for some pictures. "I thought Luke and Bonnie were going to be here."

"They… _sigh… _they're out hunting with Lilly somewhere. She told me to hold down the fort with you guys."

"So we got _ditched?" _I conclude with disbelief, folding my arms over my chest. "How is that fair? We can handle ourselves just fine! It's dangerous out there, we should be helping them!"

"Clem, you're still on the crutches. You need time to heal properly," Lee reminds me, opening up his book to the first chapter as well.

"Then why didn't they bring you along with them?"

Uh oh… I think I may have stepped too far with that one. Lee looks kind of hurt, and I'm guessing that he's pretty pissed too about them leaving him behind. It must be even worse for him – they probably just see him as a burden; a burden with one arm.

"Let's just get through this, alright? Please, Clementine? History's not so boring once you get into it," Lee advises, flipping through some of the pages. "So it's… Sarah, right? How's about you start us off?"

"Umm… okay," she agrees, as if suddenly realizing that it's not just her in the room anymore, "The American Civil war started in 1861…"

…..

"They had cannons at Parker's Run," I chime in as Sarah stops reading the paragraph, "It was actually pretty cool, but none of them worked anymore. I think you would've liked it, Lee."

"Actually," he admits, rubbing the back of his neck, "I've seen enough history museums to last a lifetime. Any more of them and I'd probably explode."

"Just like the cannon!"

"Ha ha, yeah, Clem. Just like – "

"Am I intruding here?"

Sarah and I both turn around to see Kenny poking his head in through the flap of the tent; his bad eye having been covered with a fresh bandage. I'm glad he managed to get it cleaned up a little bit at least – he seems a little less menacing now.

Lee, of course, isn't looking at him, and instead stares at the ground in annoyance. There's some real bad blood going on here, that's for sure.

Yesterday's conversation told me why that is.

"Just thought I'd take you up on that offer to go fishin' today, Clem," he continues, casting Lee a sideways glance. "If that's alright with the "professor" over here."

"Is that okay, Lee? I promised him I'd go today," I ask, hoping that he wouldn't think that I'm choosing Kenny over him. I don't want to lose him over something like this.

Lee doesn't move an inch, and I take that as the only form of acceptance that I'll ever hope to get.

"Alright, let's get going. There's a couple of canoes we can borrow from one of the other groups. One of the guys told me it's fine," he then turns back towards Sarah, "Oh, and, umm, Arvo was looking for ya earlier. He said he'd show you some medical stuff if you wanted to."

"Sack of shit…" Lee murmurs, shaking his head in annoyance.

"You know, maybe you should grow up sometime, Lee. With all the hospitality you've gotten, you're acting awfully like a spoiled brat."

Oh no.

"Guys…" I warn, not wanting them to start a fight. Especially not in front of my fifteen year old friend. "Please don't do this."

The atmosphere is chilly and hostile, an odd combination I know. But Lee honestly looks ready to murder Kenny, and he'd probably try to if it weren't for me standing here.

"Sarah, maybe you should go look for Arvo. I'll talk to you later, okay?" I say quietly, hearing no argument from her as she quickly jogs outside. She probably thinks that Lee's just as scary as Kenny appeared to be.

She might be right about that, too.

"Let me make this perfectly clear," Lee states, standing and getting about two feet away from Kenny's face. "You don't talk to me – ever. You don't come within ten feet of me. In case your thick fucking brain can't register that, it's a fucking restraining order on your ass. I don't give a shit what you think of me, and if I get kicked out of here because of it, then so be it. But if you even think about fucking with me in any shape or form, I swear to Christ a gun to your forehead will be the last thing you ever see, got it? You're a fucking disgrace, and the only reason I didn't shoot you on sight was because of this girl right here."

"You still think I'm a piece of shit, don't ya? Do you have any idea what I've been through?! Duck is dead… Katjaa and Sarita are dead… so don't you dare think you're the only one who's lost something here!"

"You think I give a _damn _about what happens to you?!"

"LEE!" I gasp, horrified that he'd go so far as to say something like that about Duck. To tell you the truth, I don't think he actually means it, but he sounds so convincing.

"See?! I knew it! I fucking knew it all along!" Kenny jabs accusingly, "You never gave a rat's ass about me _or _my family ever! You were just some low-life, murdering criminal who got lucky and convinced a little girl to follow you around! That was your excuse! You were supposed to be in fucking prison!"

There's a huge, pulsing vein pumping on the side of Lee's neck, and I've never seen him this angry before. Is shit going to fall apart already? It can't! Not yet! We just got here, for crying out loud!

"Yeah, I've fucked up before! Everyone has!" Lee pointing a finger into Kenny's chest, "But you ain't exactly an angel yourself, either!"

"I saved your life!"

"YOU LEFT ME FOR DEAD!" Lee booms, frightening me a little bit. Even Kenny seems a little taken aback at this. "The second that things got hairy you bolted – no remorse or anything! So don't give me some "woe is me" bullshit, because I've got absolutely _no _sympathy left for you, Kenny. We're finished."

I don't know what to do now. Their hatred of each other is so intense that I don't think trying to intervene will do anything. In fact, it'll probably just make things ten times worse. Normally, if it was just a fight or something, then time would probably heal their wounds. But this… this has left scars. Deep, permanent scars that won't ever go away. Their relationship won't be patched up – I'm not as naïve as the nine year old girl that I used to be.

"Let's go, Clementine," Kenny says quietly, turning outside and not waiting for me to follow him.

I shake my head in disappointment at Lee, but he doesn't flinch. In fact, I don't see any regret at all – probably because he doesn't feel any right now.

Starting my way out, I'm interrupted as Lee clears his throat.

"Clem wait," he says, holding out his pistol to me, "Be safe, alright?"

I don't know if he means from walkers or from Kenny.

…

As I step out into the winter air, the snowflakes lightly hit my face; melting against my skin as they land. If it weren't so cold outside, it probably would've felt kind of refreshing, but now they're just an annoyance. Kenny's waiting for me a little ways ahead, leaning against a wooden pole.

"You ready?" he asks a little shakily, to which I nod. "Alright then, let's see what we can catch out there."

Making our way down to the bank of the lake, Kenny drags one of the canoes into the water while I stand and "guard" some of the fishing poles. It's not as if Kenny would let me help him move the boat, not with me still on crutches at least.

"How are you holding up, anyway?" Kenny asks, grunting as he pulls the last weight of the boat into the freezing cold water. "Does it still hurt at all?"

"I can handle it, don't worry."

"Figured as much," Kenny smirks, "You're tough as hell, Clementine. It can't be easy, but you're doing great. I don't know if I could've handled it if I was in your shoes."

Noticing my downward expression as he finishes, Kenny helps me into the canoe without falling in.

"I guess my crutches wouldn't work as a paddle, would they?" I quip jokingly, splashing out a little bit.

"Well, they might," Kenny chuckles, handing me a real paddle, "but we'd be out here well into the next morning. Let's just start with a J-stroke…"

After several minutes of showing me what to do, I can safely say that I'm an expert canoe paddler – okay, maybe I'm not quite at an _expert _level yet, but at least we're moving now.

Sitting out in a canoe in the middle of the lake… it's sort of breathtaking. I'd never seen Lake Michigan before, or any of the Great lakes for that matter, but I'm glad some good came out of this apocalypse. The water's not perfectly clear, but occasionally you can see some life going on underneath the depths.

Oh!

"I think I saw one!" I call out, pointing a little ways to the left. "Should we try catching it?"

"Hold your horses, cowgirl," Kenny slows me down, carefully turning around in the canoe to talk to me. "We don't want to scare it off by moving around too quickly. Fishing's a game of patience – it takes time."

"Well, how much time?"

"Clementine…"

And so it goes on for a while, as Kenny hooks on a piece of rabbit meat to the end of the fishing rod instead of a worm, since we don't exactly have a large supply of things to choose from.

"What are we catching? Sharks?" I laugh, but at the same time thinking of how cool that would actually be. What was that movie where the big shark ate everybody it got close to…

"You definitely won't find one of those around these parts," Kenny smiles, tossing the line out and handing the rod over to me. "I don't even know if this'll work, but if you feel a tug on the line, just pull that reel backwards on the end there. See?"

Testing it out a little bit, I can't help but think about how cool this seems. I've never gotten to fish before, much less ridden in a canoe. It's moments like these that I can tell that Kenny's been a dad before. I bet he and Duck used to do father-son trips like this all the time.

_Sigh… _It's times like these where I wish my old friend was still here with us.

"So…" Kenny trails off, leaning his head back slightly and shutting his eyes, "I guess you kind of figured out what happened when…"

"Lee told me, yeah…"

"…did he tell you everything? Even what happened… after?"

"Yeah…"

"Oh boy," Kenny sighs, rubbing his temples together as I continue to watch for any fish to come. I hope it's soon – I don't like where this conversation's going. "Look, that guy who just left like that… I was a different person then, and so was he. We were bitter, resentful and… well, the point is that not a day went by where I didn't kick myself for leaving him like that. There's no way I can take back what I did, but I hope you can at least try to forgive me."

"You saved both of our lives, Kenny," I remind him, "Yeah, it was kind of cruel of you to walk out like that, but we'd both be dead if you hadn't stepped up."

Kenny seems a bit down, but he nods anyway in appreciation. He might come off as an asshole a lot of the time, but being a neutral party gives me a perspective on both sides. That's what makes it so much harder when people always expect you to agree with them.

"Hey, I think I've got something!" I frantically call out, trying hard to reel it back into the boat. "Am I doing it right, Kenny?"

"Keep it up, you're doing fine," he encourages, smirking as I pull the last of the fishing line up. Sprawling about on the hook is my first ever fish! This is awesome! I try to bring it aboard the canoe without tipping the both of us overboard, and I succeed as the fish flops around. It's not very big by any means, but I'm just happy that I caught something _at all. _I figured that we'd be out here for a lot longer without catching anything.

"That there's a lake trout," Kenny informs as he unhooks its mouth, "They're pretty common around here, but it's pretty impressive for your first time out."

Gee, thanks for the compliment, Kenny.

"What do we do with it?" I ask, slightly grossed out as it gasps for air. "I think I should name it! Hmm, let's see… How about Floppy? Nah, that's dumb. Umm… Nemo! Yeah, I think I saw a movie about that when I was younger! What do you think – "

_Splat!_

Without any warning, Kenny chops its head off and tosses the head back into the lake.

"NEMO!" I complain, pouting my lower lip as his eyes gaze back at me lifelessly. "You killed my pet!"

"Clementine, we're eating the fish…"

"Oh, yeah…"

Shaking his head in amusement, Kenny then squints his eyes at one of the little patches of land nearby. "What the fuck are they doing over there?!"

Looking to where he was ranting about, I see none other than Luke and Bonnie sitting… on top of each other? Why are they kissing? I though only married people and couples were allowed to do that? Does that mean that they're together? And… why is Luke taking his shirt off?

"Hey!" I complain fruitlessly as Kenny covers my eyes with his hand. I'd smack him, but I can't see where one of my crutches are. "What are they doing over there? I can't see, Kenny!"

"Fucking unbelievable…" Kenny mumbles, "Ask me again in a couple of years… Actually, ask Lee in a couple of years. That'll give him something to think about.'

With one hand still placed over my eyes and the other probably clutching his paddle, Kenny tries his best to steer the canoe with limited results. "Let's go find another spot – One that's G-rated," he sighs, frustration evident in his tone. I wonder if Luke did something wrong?

But suddenly, Kenny whips his head around as we both hear it – screaming, coming from Bonnie. I look around to see what's going on, and that's when I notice that a whole pack of walkers is ganging up on the two of them; defenseless and… in their underwear? Eww! What the hell are they doing?

"Typical stupid kids," Kenny snarls, not meaning me, "Come on, Clem. We've gotta hurry!"

_AN: Sorry if this was a little slow, but not everything can be action-packed. I don't want to turn this into a Michael Bay movie or something like that :P And if you're wondering why I didn't go into more detail about the history thing, it's because I'm Canadian and don't know a damn thing about American history! I'm sorry, but I'd just end up boring you otherwise lol _


	3. Strangers

Scrambling to button up his shirt, Luke frantically searches for a gun in his bag while also trying not to trip over Bonnie. They both look rather ridiculous right now – especially after… well, whatever it was they were doing. But as Kenny stops the canoe onto the sand, that becomes the least of our worries.

"Stay in here," Kenny orders, not looking for an argument.

"Are you serious?!"

"Yeah, I am!"

"Urgh!" I grunt, huffing and sinking down into my seat. Why does everyone think I'm so incapable of doing anything?! Just because I only have one foot doesn't mean I can't contribute!

And I'm gonna prove that!

Reaching to the bottom of the canoe for the gun that Lee had given me earlier, I aim it at one of the walkers while also trying not to tip myself over. I'll admit – it'd be pretty difficult to fir if I was standing up, since the crutches would most likely just get in the way. But from this position I've got a clear shot.

"Hold still…" I instruct the walker, as if it would actually listen to me. Pulling the trigger, I smirk in victory as it goes down, but look sort of guiltily towards Kenny as he glares at me. He seems to have taken the rest of them down without much incident, while Luke and Bonnie are still trying to put their jeans on and hide the blush on their faces.

"Thanks, umm… guys," Luke replies sheepishly, looking as red as a tomato, "Guess they must've got the jump on us."

"Seemed to me like you two must've gotten the jump on each other, as well," Kenny comments sarcastically, muttering profanities as he reloads his weapon. "And Clementine! What part of stay put and don't move was confusing?"

"Well, to be fair I never left the canoe…"

"Don't be a smart-ass, Clem! You know what I mean!"

"I just want to help," I explain quietly, shifting my leg a bit so it's not quite as sore. "I can do this kind of stuff if you let me."

"I think I'm, uh, gonna head back," Bonnie says embarrassingly, keeping her head down and jogging out of sight. I still don't understand why they'd take off their clothes out here. It's way too cold out here to be doing something like that.

"We'll talk about this later, Clementine. And _you_," Kenny finishes before turning his attention towards Luke. "Why in the actual fuck are you two rolling around like a bunch of teenagers out here? If Clem and I hadn't come along, you two would've gotten yourselves killed for sure – all so you could have a little pleasure!"

"Come on Kenny, you're being overdramatic," Luke sighs exasperated.

"Oh, am I? 'Cause it seemed to me that you were caught with your pants down over here! Of all the childish bullshit… Maybe you should start thinking about the group's safety before living off your fantasies!"

"You know what, Kenny?" Luke says, turning around and raising his hands in the air. "In case you haven't noticed, we're in a shitty world out here, alright? I mean it's fucked! This whole thing is FUCKED! So forgive me for wanting to enjoy one good thing of something else!"

"Do you see any of us waddling around in self-pity out here?"

"Don't make me say something hurtful, old man," Luke warns, a nasty glare on his face. "Because I've seen what you've done before we got here – why don't we just go spread around about how well you've adapted? Yeah, killing Ben was _so heroic _of you! Fucking typical… And I bet you must've pissed off the new guy something fierce, with the way he looks at ya!"

"I'd watch my ass if I were you, boy," Kenny snarls, holding a pistol at his side. "You don't really know what you're dealing with."

"What are you gonna do? Shoot me? Go ahead! Go right the fuck ahead, Kenny!" Luke yells, patting his chest as if he's daring him to do it. "And then while you're at it, why don't you go and shoot her too?! In fact, how about the whole fucking camp?! You seem to be pissed off at everyone here anyway! Come at me!"

"KENNY STOP!" I screech, sending a scared deer that was prancing about nearby to bolt deeper into the forest. Kenny's got his pistol aimed straight at Luke's forehead, and is just seconds away from pulling the trigger. "If you do this, then they won't let you back in! Don't let that happen! Luke's just… tired. He doesn't mean it!"

"Oh no. He meant every fucking word…"

"Kenny, please… this won't change anything! I don't want to lose you too…"

This strikes a chord within the fisherman – I can see it on his face. Most people will just yell at the guy or hate his guts like Lee appears to, but I know how to get through to him. Sometimes I think I know Kenny more than he knows himself.

"Fine…" Kenny hisses at Luke, lowering the gun and walking back towards me. "Do what you want, Luke. Just don't expect me to help you when the stakes are down."

…..

That was one long canoe ride. One awkward, long canoe ride. We both kind of just listened to the nature surrounding us – I actually heard some sort of loon or something out on the lake, but neither of us could see where it was coming from. Aren't birds supposed to fly south for the winter?

Anyways, I get myself stable on the crutches and hop away on them without a word, as Kenny insists that he'll put the stuff back himself. With the headless fish in one hand, I struggle to maintain my balance.

As for me, I think I might as well find something useful to do near our campsite.

The sleeping arrangement of our group is as follows: Arvo and Eddie, Sarah and I, Bonnie and Lilly, Kenny and Luke (how fun), and Lee's by himself. I'm pretty sure he gets lonely a lot of the time – especially since he barely knows anyone here, and he didn't exactly get off to a great start with the new people. But I always try to include him in things when I can.

Speaking of which…

"Looks like you got quite a catch there," Lee compliments, seemingly less aggravated than he was earlier. "You'll be a seasoned pro in no time."

"Thanks… Is Lilly back yet?"

"I was just looking for her myself, actually," he admits, "But I think that Arvo guy wanted to see you about something. He says it might get you off the crutches soon, but I don't know about him. Does he seem a little bit… off to you?"

"What do you mean?" I question, fairly certain that I know almost everything about him.

"I get the feeling he's not quite as he seems to be – as if he's hiding something. But… maybe I'm just getting paranoid. Anyway, I'm going to look for Lilly, so I'll probably see you later tonight."

"Okay…" I respond uneasily, noting how suspicious Lee's becoming. Since when did he start judging people he's never met? I specifically remember him when I was younger telling me not to judge a book by its cover!

I hate to admit it, but I think my relationship with Lee is becoming strained. We're not on the same page as we were before. Back then, Lee and I were practically inseparable. The only time I ever remember disagreeing with him was when we tried looking for my parents, and even then he still came with me to find them.

But now…

Now, he barely talks to anyone at all – I think he'll occasionally talk to Lilly about something, but their conversations are short. With me, it's a bit different. I can get him to open up about some things, but most of the time he keeps to himself. It's hard to describe, but the connection we once had is covered in potholes.

As I watch him walk away, I can't help but think to myself… why did he come back at all?

…

_Lee's POV_

Where the hell could she have gone? Lilly told me that she would be back with the rest of her scouting party in like five minutes, but that was about thirty minutes ago. She couldn't have gotten that far, right?

I bet it was that kid in the orange sweater that messed up somehow… what was his name? Luke? He certainly didn't come off as friendly to me when I first arrived. Clementine seems to vouch for him, so I guess I can give him the benefit of the doubt, but still.

You know, I think maybe things would've been a lot simpler if it was just Lilly, Clementine and I out on our own. It's not as if we don't care about each other, and I still haven't properly thanked Lilly for looking after the kids for me. That was huge of her to take on that responsibility. But fucking Kenny… every time I see him my blood boils. We just unleashed verbal assaults on each other in that tent, and I swear if Clementine wasn't inside with us, we would've ended up tearing each other to pieces.

Venturing outside the gated fences of Wellington, I search around for any sign of the woman. Hopefully nothing bad happened to her, but you never know. She could've slipped and fallen somewhere, or gotten eaten alive by –

No! Stop thinking that way, man! Lilly's probably fine; she's been through worse things than this before.

Some snow falls off of a tree branch and lands directly on my head, showering me in the powdery substance. Wiping the shit off, I shiver slightly and look out onto one of the dirt paths I took to get here (though now it's also covered in snow).

I think there's someone coming this way!

I reach for my pistol, really hoping that I won't have to use it, but… of course I didn't get it back from Clementine. Shit!

"Howdy neighbour!" the stranger calls out, casually strolling towards me as if he's asking for a cup of sugar. "Sorry if I startled you, but you know how things are. We don't exactly have cell phones or shit like that these days, huh? Otherwise I'd be hitting up the ladies right now!"

His attempt at a joke doesn't come off as funny at all. In fact, I'd say it'd actually downright creepy, seeing's how we literally just met. He looks like a trucker type of person, with his redneck hat on his head, his dark jean jacket and brownish pants.

I already don't like this guy.

"What are you doing out here?" I ask suspiciously, noticing the cigarette in one hand while he adjusts the gun on his back with the other. Where the hell did this guy get an AK-47 anyway?

"Well, me and my crew are set up a ways down in that direction," he points slightly to the west, "But it's tough shit out here, ya know what I mean? We're low on food and clothing and junk, and I thought that you could possibly help us out. You're a part of that camp over there, ain't ya? Wellington or whatever the hell it's called?"

"There's nothing for you there, I'm afraid," I interject, not liking where this is going. Fucking hell… I should've brought a gun with me. "We're all full."

"Mind if I take a look with you, neighbour?" the strange man asks, throwing the cigarette butt to the ground and stomping on it. "Maybe we could work out some sort of trade. What do you say?"

"I already said no, man. Now I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Take it easy there, big guy," he replies, holding his hands up in defense. "I'm just a fellow survivor trying to live out here. Nothing to go ape shit over."

Without another word, I slowly walk away from him, though not turning around in case he decides to fire at me. With nut jobs like this, you never know what you'll find.

Especially ones with wolfish grins like his.

"Ain't you the paranoid one?" he calls out, laughing as he shakes his head. "I reckon we'll be seeing each other again real soon. Take it easy, you fucking prick…"

"Don't come around here again!" I warn as I sprint off in the direction that I came from. If he follows me back, then I'm royally fucked since he's carrying around that big, old machine gun on his back. He'd strike me down in an instant.

Thankfully though, it doesn't look like he's tailing me in any way. Maybe I should've asked what his name was – that way if he does come back I'll know who I'm shooting beforehand. He's the kind of person that parents would have to keep their children away from, and I could tell the second I set eyes on him that he'd be trouble.

And if he was serious about coming back, then he'd be sure to bring friends along that might be just as shit-faced as he was. I'm pretty sure he was a high as a kite.

….

"Umm, hey there," I greet Luke awkwardly as I walk over to him, "Do you know where Lilly went off to? I thought you guys were out hunting together?"

"Yeah…" Luke replies sheepishly, running his hand through his hair as a nervous habit, "She's around the camp somewhere. Bonnie and I… we, umm, kind of got separated from her in the woods, so we came back a little bit late. But everyone's safe."

Nodding solemnly, I convince myself not to ask how he and the redhead managed to get lost out here. It'd probably just be some lame excuse he'd cook up anyway.

"Where's Clementine?"

"Inside with Arvo – they're fixing her up."

"_WHAT?!_" I yell, worried about the possibilities. How could something have happened to her within twenty minutes of me last speaking to her? "What happened?!"

"Easy, relax man," Luke backs away slowly, trying to control the beast inside of me. "Arvo found a prosthetic foot in one of the medical tents. It ain't perfect by any means, but hopefully she'll be able to walk eventually without having to use crutches all the time."

Relief slowly sweeps over me as I register what he's telling me. Able to walk again? That's great! Awesome, even! Maybe she'll finally not have to keep being cooped up in here all the time… well, if the rest of these assholes will let her do it. She'll definitely need time to get used to it though.

"Well, then I'll just pop in and see how things are going – "

"I don't think that's such a good idea," Luke interrupts, blocking the entrance. "Just give them some space, Lee. Arvo knows what he's doing – don't interrupt him."

"I don't need your permission, Luke. She's…" Why is it so hard for me to finish that sentence?

"She's what?" Luke asks, putting his hands on his hips as if he's got the authority over me.

But really though, what is she to me? Clem's definitely not my daughter, but to just call her a friends feels… weird, to me. It's complicated, but I feel like we've been through so much together that calling her just a friend doesn't make sense.

The only problem is, I don't know her anymore as well as I thought I did.

"Whatever…" I puff out, walking away slowly, "I'm going to see Lilly, so come find me when Clem's finished in there, alright?"

Not getting a reply, I shake my head and wander about trying to find the woman. I swear, Lilly's a freaking ninja sometimes. Doesn't she realize that we might be in trouble soon?

That trucker douchebag is putting our safety at risk… which means that Clementine's safety could be at risk. I won't allow that to happen ever again.

She's all I've really got left, and I'll die before I let anything or anyone harm her.

It's what I promised myself I'd do from the first day in Macon.


	4. Walk

"It's going to be a while before it settles properly, but give it enough time and I think you should be fine," Arvo informs me as I try rotating the prosthetic around. Right now, it just feels like I'm wearing a shoe or something, but he assures me that the feeling will only be temporary. "Does it hurt to move it at all? Did I tighten it too much or anything?"

"It's perfect, Arvo," I smile, grateful that he's done this for me. "Thank you."

"Well, I'm glad. This went a lot better than I was expecting actually," he admits, scaring me a little as he wasn't completely positive this would work. "If you've got any extra pain in your leg from that thing, come find me right away. I'll have it checked out and see what I can do."

Thanking him again, I hop off the bed and grab both of my crutches; praying that I won't have to use these for much longer. They're giving me some wicked upper body strength, but they also hurt my armpits and are really clunky to get around places. Luckily Wellington's a pretty open campsite.

I'm not exactly sure what to make of this place. I mean, yeah it's pretty safe and everything here, but is it really a home? To me it feels more like a temporary set-up; not because we're living in tents, but because I don't know _any _of the other residents. Lilly told me that when we arrived they basically just shoved us into some living quarters and left us to ourselves. Not exactly the warm welcome we were expecting, but hey, it's a roof over our heads at least.

Lee and Lilly are sitting together on the same balcony I was on the other night – probably talking about the food situation or something. The sneaky, little troublemaker in me wants to listen in on their conversation, so I try to stay out of sight as I make my way underneath the balcony. It's a good vantage point up top, as you can practically see a mile in every direction, but the wind really picks up when you're up there.

"You're sure about this guy? Did he threaten you or anything?"

"Not exactly," Lee replies, even though it's kind of hard to hear him from down here. Speak up a bit, Lee! "But he said that we'd end up seeing each other again soon. He might've been bluffing, but I don't think we can take that chance."

"Shit…" Lilly murmurs, slowly dangling her legs back and forth.

"What do you want to do about it?"

"Me?"

"Yeah you," Lee says, shifting a bit so that he's not too uncomfortable, "This group of yours seems to rely on you a lot, Lilly. You're their leader – they listen to you."

"Come on, Lee. You remember how _awesome _that went the last time. Besides, you're a part of this too, you know. Don't just throw me under the bus!"

"You're a whole lot better at this leadership thing than I am," Lee admits, sighing heavily. "Maybe I could've been good at it once upon a time, but that's long since passed. I don't know these people."

"You know me, Clem and… Kenny."

"Yeah, but you guys are different… I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am for what you did, Lilly. I don't know how to make it up to you."

"Well, a lot of good it did," Lilly sighs, tossing her head back a little bit, "Duck's gone."

_That wasn't your fault, though, _I think to myself, almost saying the words aloud.

"Maybe, but you gave him a chance at a life out here. What more can you ask for?" Lee compliments absentmindedly, pausing to adjust the cloth on his arm. "Damn this thing… It's such a pain in the ass."

"I'd bet," Lilly agrees, "Anyway, you're coming for dinner with us tonight, right? You're not bailing again? Clem seemed disappointed last time."

Whoa… was I really being that obvious? I must've been more sad about it than I thought!

"Hmm… you sure it wasn't _you _who was disappointed?" Lee jokes, probably receiving a deadpan look from Lilly. She usually doesn't take compliments too well, since she hardly ever thinks she's doing well enough.

"You wish, Everett."

Hearing her footsteps coming down the stairs, I need to think quickly in order to find some place to hide. Lilly would get really pissed if she found out that I was eavesdropping on their conversation the whole time. The first object I notice around me is an old, empty garbage can, so I maneuver over there quickly – cursing my clumsiness as one of my crutches falls out of my reach.

Thankfully, the garbage actually doesn't smell too terrible, so I manage to hide behind it with ease. However, my luck runs out as Lilly towers over me with one of the crutches in her hand.

I'm so busted.

"Umm… hi, Lilly…"

"How much of that did you hear, Clementine?"

"Not very much, honest!" I say, putting my hands behind my back timidly, "I just didn't want to interrupt you guys – it seemed like you guys were enjoying each other."

Lilly coughs a little bit violently, as if she had swallowed some food too quickly or something. Did I say something wrong?

"Oh man…" Lilly breathes out, calming down after her little coughing fit. "Just come up next time, alright? You're not a little kid anymore, Clem."

Then why does it feel like I am?

"Oh!" I remember, the thought coming to me like a lightning bolt, "I wanted to show you something! Can you get Lee to come down for a second?"

"I'm here," Lee replies, sliding down the railing in a comical way and causing me to laugh. "What's up, you little munchkin?"

"I'm gonna pretend you didn't just call me that, but look!"

Bringing my left leg forward while balancing myself with the crutch, I twirl my ankle around to show off the fake foot that I've got on. It looks way different than a normal foot obviously, but it'll supposedly do the trick. Lee and Lilly look speechless.

"Oh my god…" Lilly breathes out, the corners of her lips twitching upwards slightly into a genuine smile. I love the times when she's happy like this – it doesn't happen very often. Take a picture, it'll last longer.

"Clem," Lee bends down to my level, just like he used to. He's practically on the verge of tears again. "That's amazing, sweet pea! So does that mean – "

"Arvo said it might take a while, but yeah!" I exclaim excitedly, holding my hands out to Lilly. "Could you help me try and walk around a little bit?"

Taking her hands in mine, I'm suddenly reminded of what it felt like when my parents first took me skating. My dad never learned how to do it, but my mom used to be quite the avid figure skater. She did twirls, jumps, spins – you name it, she could do it. It was kind of scary at first, seeing's how I'd never been on the ice before in my entire life. But I remember what my mom always used to tell me…

_It's the falls that help us grow, Clementine. We learn by getting back up again._

I think the same principle kind of applies here, and I'm reminded of that first ice skating lesson right now. I can practically picture my mom holding my hands with my dad looking onwards; proud that his daughter is trying something new.

But then I wake up… and I realize that Lee and Lilly… they kind of stepped in to fill the role a little bit. It's not perfect, but I can see it.

I'm a little wobbly at first, which is to be expected, and I would've ended up falling over if Lilly didn't have such a firm grip. But this is definitely a work in progress, and I'm happy just to be moving around like this at all. We walk over to a nearby tent and come back again, as Lee applauds dramatically.

"How does it feel?" Lee asks, nodding as he hands me back the crutches.

"I'll get there, thanks guys," I reply, smiling at Lilly as she helps set me straight, "But can we keep this a secret from everyone else until tonight? I want it to be a surprise."

"I think they'll be more than just surprised," Lilly comments, walking off to no doubt help prepare the food. "Come around in about an hour or so! Don't be late, or you're not getting any!"

"She's kind of bossy, isn't she?" Lee jokes, earning a playful smack from me. "Want to bring Sarah with us to one of the shooting ranges?"

"Really?" I ask, astounded that he's letting me try and fire it, let alone that there's an actual range around here. Maybe I'm just so used to people babying me around here.

Lee smirks knowingly while turning around to where Sarah supposedly is.

"What's the matter?" he asks smugly, "Don't think you can handle it, Miss Sharpshooter?"

"Oh, you're just _hilarious,_" I snipe back sarcastically, rolling my eyes. "I mean, well… Sarah doesn't really like to use guns very much."

"Come on, how bad can it be?" Lee replies, obviously not knowing what I do about her anxiety.

….

"You weren't kidding…" Lee whispers to me out of earshot, watching as Sarah stands there holding the pistol shakily in front of her.

"She gets nervous around these things," I reply, hopping over to Sarah and hoping that she doesn't notice the surprise for tonight. "You've done this before, Sarah. It's not hard for you, I know it's not."

"I know! But… I'm afraid of messing up!" she says, lowering the weapon to talk to me.

"It won't be the end of the world if you do," I encourage, even though technically the world ended anyway. "Just keep going."

"I can't!" she cries out, tossing the gun aside as if it's on fire or something. "I… I don't want you to get hurt again!"

So that's what this is about – Sarah still thinks that it's… oh dear, this might be more challenging than I anticipated. Lee gives me a questioning look, but I just shake my head and hug Sarah for a moment. I think that's what she needs the most right now.

"What happened to me wasn't your fault, okay?" I reassure, patting her back a little bit. "There wasn't anything you could do. And I'm still here anyways, right? So no harm done."

"But… but your foot's gone…" she points out, stammering as the guilt floods out of her system. Oh, Sarah…

You're sure going to be surprised tonight, that's for sure.

"How about I take a few shots? Just to let her get comfortable with things," Lee suggests, to which we both agree wholeheartedly. I'm actually curious as to how he works that thing with only one arm. I bet it's really –

_BANG! BANG! BANG!_

…Hard….

Lee just shot all three targets (well, trees) in rapid succession – like something out of one of those western movies my grandpa used to watch. I don't even realize that my mouth's open until Lee turns to me and chuckles.

"Are you secretly a cowboy or something?" I ask, joking yet completely serious at the same time.

"Lee Everett: fastest gunslinger in the west," he brags, blowing off the barrel of his gun to show off. "All I need is the hat, and then I'm golden."

"And maybe a horse," Sarah adds, giggling as I make a face at her to lighten the mood some more. I love moments like this – where we just get to be kids for once. I don't enjoy being so serious every second of my life; it gets kind of boring, frankly.

We spend the next hour practicing with Lee as he gives us tips on how to aim more accurately, and helping me learn to shoot on the crutches (just in case something goes wrong). Sarah gets more confident by the time we're finished, so that's always a plus. I can tell that she's starting to recover from the loss of her dad. It's pretty slow going, but she's made quite a bit of progress.

Some nights before we drift off to sleep, she'll tell me about how he can still see Carlos sometimes. In the clouds, leaning against buildings, staring back at her reflection in the water… At first I thought that she still hadn't accepted that he was gone, but then I realized that that's just how she would cope with this kind of thing. Everyone's different – losing a parent is devastating. Believe me – it's one of the worst feelings in the world.

But that's where friends come in handy.

….

"You caught this, Clem?" Luke asks between mouthfuls as we all sit around the fire, "Nice! It tastes really good!"

Bonnie and Eddie nod in agreement, both of them taking bites out of their respective pieces. I smile back in response, but then keep my gaze down to the flames. I've never been one to like the spotlight – it can get embarrassing at times.

Occasionally I'll engage Kenny with short conversations while the rest talk amongst themselves, seeing as how he's been quiet most of the night. I feel kind of bad for the guy – he doesn't get a whole lot of support these days.

I made sure to sit in between him and Lee, just in case they decided to break out into a fight or something. I know they're fully-grown men, and they both want to set good examples, but lately they seem to be acting more immature than Sarah – mostly when they're around each other.

"Wish I still had my guitar with me…" Eddie comments as the talking dies down a little bit.

"You played before?" Bonnie asks, pushing the embers at the bottom around with a stick.

Arvo's the first one to nod eagerly. "Oh yeah," he says, patting his buddy on the back, "He used to play every night back at our camp. It was almost all Bob Marley songs, of course, but we'd never get sick of it since he was the only one who knew how to play the damn thing."

"You say that like it's a bad thing, bro! Bob Marley was the _shit_!"

That gets a chuckle out of a few of the group members at least, and it makes me glad that some people are starting to get along with each other. At one point, I figured that Eddie and Arvo would just end up ditching us once we got to Wellington, but they surprised me by sticking around.

"Clem," Lilly nudges me with her foot, "Wanna show them now?"

"Show us what?" Sarah asks as she takes a bite out of… something. I can't tell if it's rabbit or deer, but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference to Sarah. She'll eat anything.

Clearing my throat, I turn towards Sarah with a goofy grin on my face. "Mind helping me with this, Sarah?"

"Umm… okay."

Doing the same thing as before, I grab hold of Sarah's hands without the crutches and start walking – stumbling only once as we walk around the circle of group members.

"Well I'll be damned…" Kenny says, smiling genuinely for the first time in… as long as I can remember.

"That's fucking awesome, Clem!" Luke agrees as Bonnie leans on his shoulder in content, "When did that start happening?"

"Arvo fixed me up," I acknowledge as he smirks shyly, "He found a prosthetic in one of the medical tents and put it on this morning."

"Good on you, man," Luke nods as Eddie pats his friend on the back. "That's huge – you've got no idea."

"Yeah well, you know," Arvo shrugs it off, taking a big breath of relief, "I guess med school paid off a little bit after – "

That's when the rifle goes off, as Arvo topples over and his glasses are smashed against his face; with a bullet hole going cleanly through his head.

None of us move or say anything for a moment. We're all wondering if he's just playing a practical joke on us, and that we all just imagined that gunshot noise. When I realize that this is real, I let go of Sarah's hands and almost topple over myself.

That's when the panic starts.

"NOOOOO!" Eddie bellows, pulling out his pistol and sprinting to the gated entrance – murder on his mind.

"What the – what the fuck was that?!" Luke asks, not believing his eyes. Bonnie's got a hand over her mouth, and Sarah seems to be in shock… again.

"We need to go out and chase the fucker that did this down!" Kenny yells, quickly going into his tent and emerging with a big hunting rifle. "What are we waiting for?!"

"Okay, umm…" Lilly stammers, trying to figure out a suitable plan. "Kenny and I will search the west side of the road, Luke and Bonnie cover the east. Lee, stay here and protect the kids – "

"You're not keeping me out of this, Lilly," Lee interrupts firmly, not leaving any room for argument as he locks and loads his pistol.

"_Sigh… _Fine," she relents, glancing at Sarah and I. "Stay here, alright? Don't come looking for us – we'll be back as soon as we can. Clem, keep a gun handy just in case."

"Yeah…" I agree shakily, still looking at the dead form of Arvo. The guy who saved me and Luke's asses back when we were looking for Sarah… the guy who tried to nurse Ben back to health even though he didn't know who he was… and the guy who just this afternoon gave me a chance to walk properly again.

Who would do something like this?

_AN: Okay, try this for some of the more sad fanfics out there. Listen to Salty Seas (the ending song of S2 E4), and everything will feel ten times more emotional. I swear to you, it's got more feels than I can possibly manage._

_Anyway, keep on reviewing guys! The feedback you've given me has been ridiculously supportive, so thank you! _


	5. Trouble

_AN: This chapter's going to switch between two points of view. Hopefully it's not too confusing for you guys :P_

_Lee's POV_

"See anything yet?" I ask Luke and Bonnie as we trek through the snow; guns out and at the ready. Luckily for us there were some footprints left behind going away from the campsite, so it'd be a lot easier to track them down. God, when I get my hands on the guy…

"Nothing," Luke admits, grunting in frustration as he combs through some more bushes. "We've been out her for over a damn hour and there's no sign of the bastard. Any luck on your end, Bonnie?"

"Just snow over here… do you guys have any idea who might've done this?"

"I barely knew the guy, but I don't know why anybody would want to kill him. Arvo seemed pretty decent to me," Luke replies before looking over in my direction. "I'm guessing you wouldn't know anything about this either?"

No, not a clue. I can't think of one single reason why anybody would kill him just out of the blue like that. Did this Arvo guy piss the wrong person off? Or was there a different motive?

…It couldn't be that dumbass on the road though, could it?

I mean, I'm not the best judge of character, but that trucker guy certainly didn't seem like he could pull something like this off. He looked _way _too dumb, and even if he did come back, it would've been after me, right? Not some twenty-something year old kid that he never knew!

But I don't say anything to them, because I don't have a real connection between the two events just yet.

"There's a walker up ahead," I whisper as I motion for them to crouch down. No use in letting it know where we are. Thankfully I had been smart and decided to bring my backpack with me before I left, so I quickly unzip it and clutch Molly's old grappling hook in my hand. Over time I had gotten used to the weight in one hand, so it's not a problem for me as I sneak up behind the monster and plunge it straight into the back of its head.

"You handle yourself pretty well there," Bonnie compliments as I yank the hook out.

"Years of practice," I explain, getting weird looks from the two of them. I don't think Luke trusts me very much at all. "Come on – there's some tracks that lead out this way. Maybe we can take him by surprise…"

"_Don't move!_"

So much for that plan – there's a young man shakily holding his rifle out in front of us as he passes out of his hiding spot in the bushes. He's got a light brown wool sweater with dark blue jeans and running shoes. He's definitely a Caucasian male, and he's not a particularly tall guy which makes him slightly less intimidating. The guy must be pretty nervous being out here, and there's no doubt in my mind that he's the one who killed Arvo back at Wellington.

He's not getting away.

"Put it down, man," Luke says, trying his best to diffuse the situation. "We just want to talk. That's all."

"It's too late for that," he replies sharply, still shaking the gun between the three of us. "Now that you've seen me, I can't let you leave. I'm sorry, but this is how shit's gotta go."

"Doesn't have to," Bonnie interjects, looking at Luke for the go-ahead. "Why did you kill our friend?"

"Shut up!"

Luckily for me, the guy doesn't seem to notice that I'm creeping around silently, and I put a finger to my lips as Luke glances my way. Noticing what I plan on doing, Luke continues the distraction while I make my way over.

"Why don't you just tell us who you are? Who are the people you're with?"

"No! You'll… you'll kill them if I tell you…"

"Come on, bud, just relax. We're not going to do anything to you – all we want to know is why you came over to our camp and slaughtered him?"

"You _are _going to do something! I can tell!" the man hyperventilates, twisting his head around to no doubt try and find me. "I've… I've got the gun here! Don't try anything or I'll shoot! I swear to god I'll do it! I'll – "

Banging my pistol against the side of his head, I incapacitate him before forcibly shoving him to the ground and kicking his rifle away from his grasp. Luke and Bonnie quickly join me in surrounding him.

"Here's how this is gonna go," I instruct, unlocking the safety and holstering it in front of him, "You're gonna tell me who sent you, where your friends are and why they did this… why YOU did this, got it? Now start talking!"

"Are you… are you going to kill me?" the man asks, quaking in fear at my menacing posture.

"I'm considering it," I inform him, not removing my stare. "But I think your chances would improve if you started explaining. Clock's ticking, Rambo – what's it gonna be?"

"Okay, okay I'll talk! Just please don't shoot!" he begs as sweat beads down his forehead. "I was told to kill a person with glasses in your group! The guy would've killed me if I didn't listen to him – his name's Nate. All he told me was that the glasses guy and some other man with him took off with a whole bunch of medicine from his old camp, as well as some weapons and stuff! When he found out they were at Wellington, he forced me to kill him! I didn't want to do it – but Nate's _crazy!_"

"Alright," Luke nods, believing his story for the most part, "Now where's this camp of yours?"

"Over in that direction," he shakily points to the west of us, right where that trucker guy had told me he was set up. I wonder if they're the same person. "That's all I know – I swear! Please let me go!"

You know, if he had just been sneaking around our camp and not done any actual harm to one of us, then I probably would've just let Lassie here go home. But Arvo's dead, and he put Clem's life at risk with that shot. She was practically right beside him when it happened, for crying out loud! No, this can't happen. I won't let this happen – not to my sweet pea. Not to the only thing of value I have left in this shit-hole of a world.

Leaning back slightly, the man sighs in relief as he thinks that I'm letting him go…

…and then I pull the trigger.

"What… what the fuck, Lee?! What the hell's wrong with you?!" Luke asks, shocked as to the act I just committed. "You tell him he's gonna live and then you shoot him down?"

"First off, he killed Arvo," I state matter of factly, though slightly guilty about lying to the poor kid. "Second, he would've gone back to his friends and told them what happened. And once that would happen, then whoever this Nate guy is would come back again. He wouldn't stop until we're all either dead or gone."

"Some role model you're turning out to be," Luke hisses, glaring at me intently. "Are you just gonna try and turn Clementine into some murdering psychopath?! Is that what's going on here?!"

"I've heard enough of your bullshit for one night, Luke. I'm keeping Clementine _alive_ – that's my job. If I have to do some unspeakable shit, then I do it. The rules have changed over the last two years, kid. You need to get used to it."

"Sounds to me like you're doing fine out here with the walkers," Luke spits, trying to hurt my feelings somehow. Admittedly, I do feel a twinge of guilt, but it's overshadowed by my need to keep Clementine safe. That's all that matters.

"I'm going on to scout ahead for that camp of theirs," I state, "Just let Clem know that I'm safe, alright?"

Bonnie and Luke take off without another word, probably heading back to camp to tattle on me for being such a ruthless villain. I think with time they'll come to understand why I did what I did, but until then I've got a camp to find.

I'm going to make those bastards pay.

_Clementine's POV…_

"We… we should try to move him out of the way."

"Are you sure? Lilly said to stay here!"

"We can't just leave a dead body around camp, Sarah," I inform her, dropping my crutches and hoping that Arvo's prosthetic holds on me. "Let's work as a team – you grab one arm, and I'll grab the other."

"What if he comes back though…"

"He won't," I reassure, though slightly sick to my stomach when I look down at the damage. There's blood everywhere, and if you look in close enough you could probably see directly into his brain. So gross! "They shot him in the head – he won't turn into a walker."

As a team, we carefully drag him aside while a few onlookers gather around our campsite – probably wondering what the hell is going on here.

I wish I knew the answer to that.

A few of them offer to help move him, but I just tell them that we can handle it. The last thing we need is for Lee and the rest of them to come back and find that some strangers are skulking around our camp. Kenny would probably shoot them on sight.

"Clementine… is somebody after us? Are they going to kill us like Arvo?" Sarah asks as we dump him unceremoniously outside the gate. If we don't bury him when the rest of them get back, then the snow eventually will and we might forget where he even is. And if the rats come to eat his remains, well… let's just say that won't be a welcome sight.

"We'll keep each other safe, just like before," I encourage, though not sounding outwardly confident as we gaze upon the deceased heap that used to be Arvo. What did this guy ever do to anybody? It couldn't have been some random nutcase in the woods – this seemed more like a professional assassination than just some bandits. But the question remains: why?

"Let's just head back inside, okay?" Sarah asks, wrapping her arm around my shoulder and leading me away from the grizzly scene.

…..

The two of us sit in our own sleeping bags, with neither of us able to catch any shut-eye whatsoever. This eventful night's just got both of our minds racing over the possibilities, and (at least in my case) has me worrying about the rest of the group. I don't like how they just ran off into the dark like that, especially considering how cold it is out tonight. I suppose that the assailant would've left some footprints for them to track down, but even then it might be a longshot.

"Do you think they're okay?" Sarah whispers into the darkness; pulling her blanket up towards her chin to get warmer.

"I hope so, Sarah," I sigh, folding my hands behind my head. "I sure hope so."

Suddenly, we hear some voices coming from outside – sounding vaguely familiar, but different at the same time. Maybe that doesn't make any sense, but that's just how I interpret it.

"Should we check it out?" I ask, hobbling over to the entrance of the tent.

"What if it's more of the guys who shot him?" Sarah whispers, her voice uneasy. "I don't want them to get us, too!"

"I don't think it is, though," I reply, sticking a finger through the flap of the tent and slowly peeking outside. All is quiet out here, except for the fire that's still burning and a couple of older men playing cards down the pathway. But it also looks like there's two people walking into the gate… but it's not Lilly, Lee, Luke or any of them. It's…

"Jane! Mike!" I call out waving to them as they move forward. They have to squint their eyes to see who's calling their names, but once they realize it's me they casually wave back. I'm surprised that they're here, especially after everything that happened back at the museum. But I can only assume that they were having trouble surviving in the cold out on their own. So much for being a lone wolf, Jane.

"Never thought we'd bump into you guys here," Mike says, smiling slightly as Sarah steps outside with me. "We kind of assumed the worst after all that shit went down, but… What the fuck?! Kid, what happened to your foot?"

"It's a long story," I brush off, not wanting to get Sarah upset again. "You guys didn't happen to bump into Luke and the rest of them, did you? They're out looking for people right now."

"Why wouldn't they just go in the morning? Seems pretty dangerous to me," Jane replies, setting her bag down and warming herself up near the fire.

"There… was an incident," I say sadly, twirling my good foot around nervously, "One of our friends was killed and they're out looking for the person who did it. They've been gone for a long time, though. We're starting to get worried."

"Wellington – safest place we could find. Isn't that the line you fed me with, Mike?" Jane asks, smirking as he rolls his eyes.

"Yeah, well…"

"Please don't leave again!" I find myself saying, giving Mike my famous puppy-dog eyes. I've got a feeling that this wouldn't work on Jane. "We need all the help we can get, and we're safer if we stick together! There's a lake just down there, and we get plenty of food from – "

"You'd be a natural saleswoman, Clementine," Jane compliments, shaking her head as she warms up her hands.

"Is that a "yes", then?"

"…For now. I'll see how this goes."

Hearing the creaking of the gate again, we all look to see Bonnie, Luke, Lilly and Kenny walk back in – all exhausted and out of breath. But why do I only count four heads? Where's Eddie? Where's Lee?!

"Luke…" I say, just hoping that his answer won't mean the end of my world. I don't think my little body can handle the heartbreak again, especially when this time it'd be for real.

"Come with me, alright? I think we need to have a little chat."

Why does Luke look… pissed off? There's a huge lump in my throat, and my stomach is doing backflips as my mind races with worry. Why won't he just come out and tell me?

"Please don't tell me he's dead…" I beg, tears forming in my eyes as he leads inside his tent. "Oh my god, Luke… Please…"

"Take it easy, alright? I'm sure he's fine… He just went to check on a few things."

"Then what did you want to tell me?" I ask, wiping my eyes as quickly as possible.

Sighing, Luke sits on the edge of his bed as he tiredly rubs his face with his fingers. What could've possibly happened out there? You see – this is what I get for not being able to help them with anything! Stuff always falls apart when I'm not around!

…okay, maybe that's not entirely true…

"Your friend's losing it, Clem," he says, looking at me directly in the eyes, "We found the guy who killed Arvo, but we told him that we'd let him live if he cooperated. The kid told us everything he knew, but then Lee just… didn't even give him a fair shot. Just a bullet to the head, and then said something about scouting out for the enemy camp."

"He…" I stutter, trying to disprove him as best I can, "Lee's a good guy, Luke! He's my friend, and he'd only do that to protect the group!"

"He only cares about _you_."

"That's not true… I know Lee – he tries his best to help everyone. That's the kind of man he was… he's still that way!"

"Clementine," he breathes out, shaking his head in sadness. "I know how you feel about him, I really do. I get that you two are close – hell, anyone can see that. But Lee Everett is a changed man – he's not the same guy you remember from two years ago."

"How would you know?" I ask, crossing my arms defiantly, "What gives you the right to judge him? I know him a lot better than you!"

"Look, I know this kind of thing, alright? It's the personality – Carver had it, Kenny has it, Lilly might have it, and I can tell that Lee does too. He's dangerous, Clementine, and he's going to get someone killed."

"No!" I yell, shaking my head like a three year old, "You're wrong about him! He looked after me! We've been through more together than you can imagine, and I'm not abandoning him!"

"That's not what I'm saying, kiddo," he tries to calm me down, placing a pleading hand upon my shoulder. "Just… be careful, alright? You're the only thing tying him to this place… this group. You're his last anchor, and I don't want you getting hurt because of it."

Lowering my head in grief, I shudder and nod silently as I walk out into the cool, winter air without another word. You know, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine things would turn out this way. Of course, I didn't even think Lee was alive for all that time, but when I saw him stroll up to the gates at Wellington, I thought for sure that things would be different. I thought that we'd all just get along like a real family would – with no arguments, not having to worry about food or walkers, and not having people dying for no reason. There was something so hopeful about that notion – it was something I was striving for. It was a chance to start _living_ instead of just _surviving_.

What a naïve fool I turned out to be.

_Lee's POV_

I've got to admit – this place is a fucking dump. Scratch that – it looks like a dump on top of a dump. This isn't a campsite! This is more like a landfill with all the shit that these people have sprawled out over here. Either they don't plan on staying very long, or they're the sloppiest people I've ever seen. Didn't any of them have houses before all of this?

The location of this place isn't the _worst _I've ever seen, as it almost looks like they've dug themselves right into a valley of sorts. I bet during the warmer months this place would be blooming with green life; creating a beautiful atmosphere that you'd see in one of those nature magazines that my ex-wife used to read. Instead, most of it's covered by a thick blanket of snow, with a whole platoon of guards patrolling the area for suspicious activity. They seem pretty organized, but I wonder how many people there actually are?

Holding my pistol at my side, I consider my options. The best choice would probably be to head back to Wellington and warn the rest of them while coming up with a plan to keep them from harming us again. Another choice would be to sneak around a little bit; trying to see any weak points or just taking a look at what's going on inside. The third choice would be to try and shoot the guards before taking off, but that's pretty stupid (even by Kenny's standards).

Maybe I can do a bit of both. I'll simply walk tiptoe to the side of their base, poke my head inside and then get out before anyone notices me. That sounds pretty good to me.

"You fucked up, asshole," a bigger woman with curly, puffy hair snarls behind me, and I turn around slowly to make sure that she doesn't kill me on the spot. In her hands is a heavy-duty machine gun that's similar to the one that that trucker guy had earlier, while I hold my hands up in surrender.

Fuck.


	6. Back with a vengeance

The sun slowly starts to rise over the horizon – illuminating Wellington with its bright glow and starting a new day. I walk outside of the tent without crutches while also letting Sarah obtain at least a few more hours of sleep. With all that she's been through, I feel that she deserves the extra rest. But I can't sleep a wink; not because I'm an early riser, but because there's still no sign of him.

Lee should've been back hours ago.

What Luke had told me last night is really troubling me. Sure, he may have had to adapt to his surroundings over the last two years while practically being alone for a majority of it, but that doesn't mean he's dangerous - especially not to the rest of the group.

Why did he have to tell me that, anyway? Luke knows how happy I was when Lee stumbled back in. There was no reason for him to take that away from me; to make me second guess myself for the billionth time. Lee's always been there for me, and he'd never let me down.

Right?

"He's still not back, is he?" Kenny asks, startling me as I didn't see him approach. When I shake my head, he sighs deeply and rubs his hand over his face. "Of course not. The bastard's left you and Lilly here worried sick without telling us where he was going, other than to some fucking camp out in the sticks. We don't even know where it is, for Christ's sake!"

"You two need to start getting along," I state, yawning and stretching my arms to the sky. "Just try patching things up with him – he's not so bad once you get to know him."

"Clementine, I know him as well as I'm ever going to. This… This'll take more than a few apologies thrown each way, trust me. Sometimes things just don't work out."

"Could you at least try? Please? For me?"

Sighing, he's about to answer when Bonnie and Lilly step out of their tent with huge bags under their eyes. In fact, it seems that everyone looks that way. I guess nobody's been getting much sleep lately.

"We need to look for Lee," I say, more so to Lilly than anyone else as Mike, Jane and Luke come out to join us. "If something happened to him, then we need to help."

"What's he look like?" Jane asks, folding her arms across her chest.

"Picture Mike, but with more hair, less weight and one arm," Lilly describes, getting a huff of annoyance from the big guy. "Anyone know where he might've taken off to?"

"He told us he was going scoutin' last night," Luke admits, not meeting my gaze, "The guy he killed mentioned some camp a little ways off of here. He might still be around, but…"

"But what?" I ask, frowning as he cuts off his sentence.

"It'll be like trying to find a needle in a haystack, Clem," Luke says, "We shouldn't all go out searching for the guy in case he comes back on his own."

"That's what you said about Lilly, too," I point out, narrowing my eyes at him. "I'm going either way. And before any of you ask, yes I can walk – enough to get there and back at least."

"What's the plan then? I say we take a small group of us to scrounge around and find out where he might've gone off to," Lilly pitches in, pretty much telling me that she's going too.

Looking around at the group, I see three other hands go up: Mike, Jane and a very reluctant Kenny. I'm pretty sure the only reason he did was because of our conversation moments ago. Guilt trips sure are fun! I should use them more often!

Lilly doesn't seem to think that's a good idea though.

"Kenny," she sighs, shaking her head, "I think it'd be best if you stayed here. We don't want too many people out there, plus if anything happens then we'd need you to defend our spot. Same goes for you, Jane."

"Remind me again who named you queen of the camp?" Kenny grunts, but relenting. He'd take any excuse to get out of interacting with Lee that he could get. Jane kind of just shrugs her shoulders and mumbles something about why she bothered coming here in the first place.

Bonnie hands me a pistol with some extra magazines, which I accept gratefully and place gingerly in my backpack. I'm surprised that I still have this thing after all that's happened to us.

"Looks like we're all set," Mike comments, saluting the rest of the group who simply roll their eyes. "Come on, we're burning daylight."

"That's my line!" Luke calls out, but I tune him out as we reach the gate. He's kind of getting of my nerves right now, to be honest. It's almost like he doesn't want us to find Lee at all, especially after all the things he said last night. Odd, I thought Luke and Lee would've gotten along much better than this.

…..

"Alright, let's just rest up for a minute," Lilly orders as we all set our packs down. My leg is pretty sore, but the freezing cold temperature is kind of numbing it down a little bit. "I'm gonna have a look around – don't worry, Clem. I won't stray too far from you guys."

"You worry me sometimes, you know that?" I joke, to which she just shakes her head and walks off. I swear, sometimes Lilly can be colder than winter itself, but I know she means well.

We've stopped at a fork in the road, with dirt paths leading in two different directions. I sit on the side of the road and roll up the cuff of my jeans to get a better look at the prosthetic. Still attached, thankfully, but it's digging into my skin and it kind of hurts. I can't really complain though – I wouldn't be out here without it.

"That thing sure looks painful," Mike comments, grimacing as some of the scars show from where I was chopped. Damn… and to think that Nick shooting me in the arm was actually _less _painful.

"You get used to it," I reply, rubbing the sore spot tenderly to alleviate some of the stress.

"Your friends mentioned how tough you were – never thought they meant like this, though," Mike admits, shaking his head in disbelief. "No painkillers, either?"

"Nope."

"Jesus…"

"A walker got the jump on me," I tell him, deciding that now's as good a time as any to explain some things. "Sarah and I stuck together while we all went through a tunnel on the way here, but I didn't see it in time. Luckily Kenny took my foot off quickly enough, so I'm still around."

"Seems there's a lot more to you than meets the eye, kid," Mike notices, straightening up as he sees some movement in the trees. "Shit… I think we've got walkers coming straight at us."

"What should we do?" I ask, not wanting to risk the noise of a gun but not liking my chances with an amputated foot and a knife. I probably should've thought this through more.

Frowning in concentration, Mike grunts and pulls out his pistol, which signals to me that I should do the same.

"Fuck it," he spits, "We can't have any close calls. Let's just get to Lilly and take them out at a distance."

"We need to find an opening," I say, firing off a round at a walker that gets a little too close for comfort. It looks as though this isn't just some small pack of the things, unfortunately.

"Probably came from Detroit or something," Mike muses, taking two more walkers down as he reloads his weapon. "There! Through the bushes, go!"

Unfortunately for me, I can't run at all with this thing, so Mike beats me to the bushes by a mile. Luckily for me, he seems to notice this and is blocking off the pursuit while ushering me to hurry up.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" I yell, trying not to just completely fall face first in the snow. Any misstep will be the death of me, and all of this will have been for nothing. I don't want to die! I'm too young to die!

"Shit!" Mike curses before disappearing into the brush – the snow on the evergreen trees preventing me from seeing him.

"Mike?! Lilly?!" I yell out frantically as four walkers start to advance towards me. I manage to take one down in a hurry, but I have to keep moving. It's literally like watching a race between four tortoises, with me in the lead and the other three catching up behind me. I'm a little bit faster than they are thanks to my smaller size, so I can slightly outmaneuver them, but if I get tired then I'm done for. Screw this stupid foot!

I have no idea where I'm going, but for some reason I feel that I'm going the right way. It's not as if I have any other choice anyway, but as I trudge through the trees and into a clearing, I'm greeted to the site of what's undoubtedly a campsite. For a moment I stop to catch my breath and try to see if Lee could be anywhere in this place.

What I'm greeted to instead are two of the guards pointing to me before grabbing some of their buddies to try and fetch me, while the walkers keep on my tail.

Perfect – just perfect. As hard as my lungs are willing, I push myself and make a left; taking off and hoping that whatever catches me first is friendly. Something tells me they won't be.

_Lee's POV_

"Dude? Are you awake over there? Hellllooooooo?" Eddie asks, trying to get my attention. Funny how things work out, eh? We both look for the murderer only to get caught in their spider web, metaphorically speaking of course. God, my university lectures must be catching up to me.

"Barely," I admit, twisting my wrist around painfully. That lady (who I later found out was named Tavia) cuffed me to this ATV and closed the door behind us. That was well over four hours ago now, though. Nobody's walked in here since. "How you holdin' up?"

"Shitty, man. This is straight fucked up."

"Can't argue with you there."

"Do you think there's any way out of here?" Eddie asks as he struggles to untie himself from the motorcycle he's strapped to. I hadn't known that this place used to be an auto shop – although this obviously dealt less with cars or trucks, and more with smaller vehicles. I'm guessing they just set up camp around this place just for that reason alone. Maybe these things still work.

"Even if there was," I say, sighing as another attempt to slip out of the cuffs fails, "we're stuck here. Plus, they took all our guns and shit away."

"Damn this thing," Eddie mutters, lowering his head slightly. "Fucking Arvo… I used to call him invincible, you know? He never stopped, just like the horse his buddies named him after. Hell, even with a busted-up leg he still lasted longer than other folks I knew. Just didn't think his luck would run out, you know?"

"Sounds like you guys were close," I conclude, giving him a sympathetic nod. "I'm sorry, man."

"Did you get him?" he asks suddenly, staring at me intently. "The fucker who gunned him down… did you tap him out?"

Nodding slowly, Eddie nods back. "Good," he says flatly, sighing as he leans his head back on the motorcycle. "Doesn't bring him back at all, but at least we kind of avenged him, you know? Like that super hero movie."

"Sure," I agree, trying to figure out how at all this was like the Avengers. I'd love to have some super powers of my own right now. Being able to move through walls would be a lot of help.

A few minutes later, the door opens, and in steps that bastard I met on the road that day. Eddie seems to know him as he glares straight at him, so I guess that kid I shot was telling the truth after all.

"Howdy neighbour," he chuckles at me, revealing his nasty grin that just screams insane. "Aww man, you should've seen your face out there, dude. Fucking priceless. You were practically pissing your pants."

I highly doubt that, you crazy bastard.

"So, Eddie," he turns to the beanie-wearing man, "You are one fucked up kid, you know that? First you jack my meds, then the guns, and then you take off like the wind. You know I've got sinus issues! My nasal drugs were in there, brother! Of course, we mostly just got high off them back in the camp now, didn't we? We were just a couple of regular junkies, you and me!"

"And you," he smirks, turning towards me, "Didn't take my offer very seriously, did ya? I told you what would happen, dude – sure, Arvo was a pretty stand-up guy, but he had to go. And then you came along… and killed my man. That shit's just not gonna fly."

"What the fuck do you want from me?" I snarl, curling my lips tightly and glaring at him. "I've got one fucking arm, so forced labour's not really gonna help you much."

"Ha! He's got a sense of humour, too! You could take some lessons from this jokester, Eddie. He's showing you up over here!" the fucker rants, placing his hands on his hips as Tavia and two other men come inside. "Cold out there, is it?"

"Are you about finished with them yet, Nate?" Tavia asks, surprising me as I had thought that he might've been the leader of this little operation they have going on here. "We're on a tight schedule here, and we caught another person trying to escape some walkers. They've got her up on the second deck."

"Alright, I'll be quick… buzzkill…" Nate shakes his head while shrugging his shoulders at us. "I don't know what to tell you, fellas. We can't keep both of you alive… but I'm a pretty reasonable guy. I ain't some wack job out in the sticks with some taste for killing folks like yourselves – my brother was, but I'm not. Don't tell my mother."

"NATE!" Tavia bellows, growing more impatient by the second.

"Anyway," he continues, ignoring the bushy-haired lady, "Here's how this is gonna go – I'm not gonna kill both of you. In fact, I ain't killin' either of you!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Eddie asks, just as confused as I am.

"Ohh… this is where it gets good, boys! You're going to kill _each other_! You're gonna fight to the death – until one of you go _kersplat! _Isn't that fucking great?"

Okay, I knew this guy was nuts before… but now he's just completely gone off the deep end. If he thinks that we're going to partake in this insanity, then he's truly lost his marbles. Why would we ever agree to this?!

"We're not doing it," I hiss, trying once again to break free of my chains. "You must be some kind of stupid to think we would. I'll kill you first!"

"Ha, doubt that my good man," Nate scoffs, tisking as he shakes his head. "Such noddy children you are! Oh well, this should be good entertainment to boost morale and all that junk. Might be a little bit messy, but we can just cover up the blood with some snow. It's not like we don't have that in abundance out here, am I right or am I right?"

"We're. Not. Doing. It." I pronounce each word, as if somehow it'll get through to him. "You won't make me kill him!"

"Oh, I think you will," he smiles wickedly at me as he turns to leave. "I'm a pretty charismatic and _persuasive _guy, you know. See you in a little bit."

With that, he, Tavia and their goons leave and shut the door behind them; the cold breeze of a winter storm briefly blowing in to touch our faces. Nate sounded pretty serious about this, and the way he said that last thing… Jesus… What does he mean by that?

"Told you he's fucking nuts," Eddie remarks, widening his eyes, "Why do you think Arvo and I left his ass in the dust in the first place? Maybe our friends will come rescue us or some shit."

"Now would be the time," I agree, though still wondering what persuasion he could be holding. The cards are in Nate's hands now – I just wish I knew what they were. I've never met anyone with such a lack of regard for human life – it's sickening and downright terrifying at the same time. I wonder if he was different before the world went to hell, or if this thing just accentuated his madness.

Either way, I need some time to think. If he's serious, then I need to prepare myself. I have to find a way out of this madness.

_AN: Sorry about the cliffhanger, but it's for a good cause! I've sort of got a plan now for where I want this story to go, and I'm really sorry if this feels too much like the television show in any way! I didn't intend for that, and personally I think there are some big differences. And if for some reason you don't watch the show, then… you're missing out! Go and watch it already, especially the first two seasons!_

_Anyway, I hope you're liking this so far! Please keep reviewing :) Forty reviews within five chapters is bat shit crazy! I've never had that happen before with ANY of my stories, so thank you very much for that! Also, thanks to spiderclone for suggesting the Mike and Jane thing… I kind of screwed up by sending them away. _


	7. The only choice

"_Lee?"_

"_Yeah, sweet pea?"_

"_What did you do before all this?" Clementine asks shyly as we drive away from my parent's pharmacy. "I mean, uh, what kind of job did you have?"_

"_Well," I pause, trying to put this into words that she'd understand. Carley glances back at us from the front seat, probably waiting for me to blurt out how I killed the state senator, but I'm not that stupid. "I used to teach up at the university – I taught history and things like that."_

"_Oh, like social studies?"_

"_Just like that."_

"_That's so cool!" she exclaims excitedly as Glenn chuckles in the front seat. I've gotta say, the kid's pretty cute when she gets into something. "That was my second favourite class of all! The best one was probably science, but I liked recess and lunch too. I hope I can go see my friends again soon."_

_I don't have the heart to tell her that her friends and teachers are most likely dead, so I say nothing and rub my hand over my tired face. After having just seen my brother like that… god. I just wish that I could've been there more often, instead of just making up excuses all the time for when he asked me to come visit. _

_Why the hell am I even still here? Don't get me wrong, Clementine's a great kid and all, but I'm not her dad, and these seem like okay people to me. In fact, if it wasn't for her looking for her parents, I probably would've just moved on from her house. We don't really have much of a relationship at all – I'm just some stranger who came into her house and took her with me._

_Jesus, when I say it like that it sounds like I kidnapped the poor girl._

"_What did you want to be when you grew up, Clementine?" I ask after a few minutes of silence. _

"_Umm… it might be dumb, but… I wanted to be a police officer," she responds meekly, twirling her hair around her finger._

"_That's not dumb at all, Clem. A police officer would be a perfect job for you."_

"_You think so?" she asks as we pull into the parking lot of the motor-inn. Hopefully we can fix this place up a little, since the memories of that poor bitten girl are still fresh in our minds. It's easy to just say you can't give up when times are tough, but when it actually happens to you – that's when you really have to buckle down and see if you've got the willpower to pull through. In that girl's case though, it didn't matter what her options were. She was bitten, and there was no coming back._

"_Yep, Officer Clementine," I joke as she giggles a little bit, but the both of us stop when we notice Carley's downtrodden expression. Doug died not even an hour ago, and here I am trying to make jokes. Not the time, Everett. Not the time at all._

It's kind of funny now looking at how things have changed – I went from thinking of moving on from her to not being able to live without her. Clementine literally _is_ my life. If I ever lost her, then I don't know what I'd have to live for. The only person I'd even consider to really be a friend to me is Lilly, and even so we haven't always been on the greatest terms.

Looking over, I notice that Eddie still hasn't moved or said anything for quite some time. He must still be grieving over the loss of his friend – poor guy. Arvo honestly looked like he wouldn't hurt a fly, and to be shot down out of nowhere like that… it just isn't right.

I'm expecting to see that prick Nate soon enough, or at least one of his followers if he's too lazy to come get us himself. I'm really surprised that these people are going along with this asshole – I mean, isn't it bad enough that people are dying from walkers all the time? Why would they want to partake in this messed up shit? This is no better than organized dog fighting that you'd hear about on the news.

And, as if right on cue, the door opens and in comes an Asian guy with long, dark hair, a shorter black guy who really looks like he'd rather be anywhere else, and a big, well-built white man with a beard. If I had to take a guess, I'd say these are our chauffeurs.

"Up and at 'em," the white man orders, forcing Eddie to his feet while starting to unlock his handcuffs. The Asian guy undoes mine while the shorter guy watches on with a gun in his hand. What does he think I'm going to do in this situation, honestly? "It's Judgement Day, assholes. You better pray while you've still got the chance."

"Fuck you."

"No thanks," he responds to me like a smart ass, before turning to his companions. "Vince, Russell, make sure he doesn't try to escape. Tavia's counting on us to do this shit right."

"Come on, Hank," Vince sighs, shaking his head, "You know this is a democracy – nobody's in total control of anything. You don't have to look up to Tavia."

"Some fucking democracy," I spit, snarling my words violently. "Sounds to me like you punks are getting whipped by Nate. What? Is he too scary for you guys? Didn't want him chopping your head off so you just do what he says?"

"You'd best shut your mouth before I put this rifle straight up your ass," Russell warns, not scaring me in the slightest. I don't think neither he nor Vince want to be doing this right now, but obviously they don't have much of a say in the matter.

"If you fuckers were going to do anything, then you'd have done it a long time ago. Now are we going or what?!"

The three of them look at each other for a moment before shaking their heads and leading us out into the cold. They know I'm right, of course. And they probably figure that I'm as good as dead anyway, so they can just ignore what I'm saying and watch as I plant myself in the snowy ground.

But Eddie and I aren't playing this game.

The snow bats against our faces as we walk into the middle of the valley; surrounded by a junkyard of auto parts with armed women and men. They don't look too happy to see us, and I can only imagine what brainwashing techniques Nate must have used to convince them of this. Or maybe they're just an angry, stupid mob who feels like causing some mayhem… I don't know, nor do I really care. There's no way he can make me do this.

"And here come our two lovely competitors!" Nate calls out, "The prize they'll be fighting for today is… their lives! That's right folks! No fancy fucking refrigerators or shiny, new cars for our challengers today!"

That gets a laugh out of most of the crowd, which kind of freaks me out a little bit. They honestly think this is some kind of game we're playing – like it's a boxing match and they've all got front row seats!

"Now, you're probably wondering why we're doing this in the first place. Well, here's the thing," Nate bellows, nodding as Tavia and a handful of others join him, "One of these douches took off with a whole lot of shit from our old camp – valuable shit that you _need _to survive out here! And the other guy killed one of our own people last night! But apparently… that's not all."

What? What else could we have done to this moron? I've only ever seen him twice!

"Apparently, a whole bunch of you were at some… hardware store, was it? And your leader was straight-up murdered! That's right, in cold blood! The same man who gave you shelter from all the crazy, walker-eating shit that's going on out here! Killed by someone in their group!"

Gee, someone in our group must've had a bad day… You know, if I had to take a guess, I'd say that Kenny just went ape shit on the guy and murdered him in his sleep. The man probably had it coming, but that's just the sort of thing I'd expect Kenny to do.

I mean, who else would be able to pull something like that off?

"Are we going to let a bunch of _murderers and thieves _roam around?! Stalking us like the creepy bastards they are, and putting your safety at risk?! Do you want to have to sleep with one eye open for the rest of your miserable lives?!"

"NO!"

"Isn't it better this way?! We let them kill each other, so that our hands are perfectly clean!" Tavia chimes in, putting her gun in the air to rally the troops, so to speak. "Will we have retribution and justice?!"

"YEAH!"

"Ladies and gentlemen," Nate announces like a sports broadcaster, "LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!"

"WOOHOO! YEAH! WRAGH!"

"….no."

"That's not exactly the answer I'm looking for," Nate sighs as he adjusts his hat over his head, "This isn't an option for you – kill each other already! We've got the popcorn in the back and everything!"

"No!" I say as if these are the dumbest people in the world, "You've given us absolutely no reason to do anything like that to each other. Why would we ever listen to you? You're nothing but a cocky, little prick of a man who clearly got dropped on the head as a baby. You people don't have jack shit on us!"

"Well then… how about we up the stakes?" Nate smirks menacingly, "If you two don't fight, then not only are we going to kill the both of you, but we'll also go over to Wellington and burn the place to the ground, along with everyone inside of it."

"We're smarter, and we've got the terrain advantage," I point out, glaring at the sleazy little man, "I'd say you people are in way over your head."

"Not exactly…" Tavia mentions as she whistles to two men crouching on the upper deck of their camp site. They've got their guns out, but what the hell are they aiming at…

No.

You… you fucking bastards….

"I'll kill every last one of you with my bare hand…" I threaten, angrier than I've ever been before, "Nate and Tavia… I swear to god if they even think about pulling that trigger, I'll rip your heads off of your shoulders. I couldn't be more fucking serious."

"Then you'd better start with the show before that happens," Tavia comments dryly, making my blood run cold with her calculating stare. She's just as bad (if not worse) than Nate, simply because she's organized. She's a schemer, a planner – Nate may talk a big game, but I'm almost certain that it's Tavia who's pulling the strings behind this operation.

I glance around me as my world starts spinning, with the faces of strangers staring back at me and waiting for us to tear each other to pieces. I can't stand a single one of these people – suddenly, I don't give a damn about the families and friends they've lost, or the lives they've had to leave behind. My sympathy is all but gone, as it was buried in the dirt of Savannah. After that day, I'd all but given up hope for humanity. If I couldn't find it in Kenny, a person who although was a huge dick still managed to be loyal to his family, then I for sure wouldn't find it anywhere else.

The only place I have hope for… is with that twelve year old girl they've got up on the upper deck.

My dark brown orbs stare into her amber ones as she silently begs me not to do this, but there is no other option. One of Eddie's buddies must have just showed up, because he doesn't seem to be willing to hurt her or allow any of this to happen, but everyone else looks like they're ready for the entertainment to begin. My gaze softens as it concentrates on Clementine… but I've already made up my mind, and not even she can change it now. There's no getting out of this. I've said it before and I'll say it again.

I will do whatever it takes to protect Clementine.

The arena roars in anticipation, placing their bets on who's going to win as well as assaulting us with verbal abuse and spewing out hateful remarks. "Burn in hell", "You screwed us for the last time", and "Make this quick" are all tossed about our way, and Nate looks on in anticipation. He's probably getting a kick out of watching all of this unfold.

"Wyatt, man," Eddie practically begs while shaking violently, "You've got to get them to stop this shit! We're brothers for life, man! We look out for each other!"

"This isn't going to do anything but start more fights, Nate!" a woman named Shel belts out, not enjoying this idea in the slightest. "Becca and I want no part of this! Just let them go already!"

"You've got twenty seconds before we kill ya both and burn your property!" Nate yells among the cheers of the mob. "So, what's it gonna be?"

Sound is drowned out in my head as I look upon Clementine one last time, lowering my head in shame. I haven't felt this sick to my stomach since the second after I killed the senator and my ex-wife. If there is an afterlife, then I'm pretty sure I know where I'm going to end up. Straight at the bottom.

"Fuck…" I mutter, turning towards the beanie-wearing man whom I've kind of grown fond of a little bit. "I'm so sorry, Eddie."

"Fuck you man!" Eddie sputters, his eyes wide and fearful. Wow, does everyone think that I'm some kind of monster? "I – I ain't dying, Lee! Not here! Not like this!"

Taking one step forward, Eddie immediately puts his hands up as we begin our dance; slowly moving in a circle like a couple of sumo wrestlers. Maybe if we keep this up, then they'll somehow either magically lose interest or…

"FIGHT OR DIE! YOUR CHOICE!" Well, so much for that.

"LEE! NOOO!" Clementine screeches as I move closer to him. Her heart's in the right place, but I don't have any choice. Eddie punches me once in the jaw as I counteract with a kick in the shin. The battle's on.

It's rather difficult with one hand, but I've still got the weight and muscle advantage on him, which means that I can pretty much snap him like a twig. He's rather skinny (most likely from his heavy drug use), so he's a little bit faster than me as he dodges and sends a swift punch to my side.

But I've got a fire inside of me, and the monster's breaking out.

We both notice that that Wyatt character is trying to step into the ring, but a whole group of amused patrons is blocking his attempt. Sick fucks…

I land a punch to the chest that causes him to wheeze slightly, and then I smack him around a bit as he tries to regain his composure. He manages to kick me square in the junk (cheap shot) and then uppercut me when I'm incapacitated, but I quickly recover and trip his legs. Very reluctantly, I punch him several times in the face as his nose breaks and blood slowly comes trickling down, but he notices the weak spot on my amputated arm and hits me really hard on the left stump. God damn it, Kenny!

The bull starts to rage in my veins, but it cools down a little bit after I realize just who it is I have to kill here. That doesn't mean that I can take it easy however, as Clementine's life is still very much on the line. So, as hard as I can, I charge forward and tackle him to the ground – both of us rolling around in the snow like a couple of young brothers. I just wish that's what it was.

Landing a few more shots to his face, I lift the guy up by the scruff of his coat and hold him in a one-armed chokehold. This isn't going to be pretty…

"Just close your eyes, Eddie," I murmur, my insides getting crushed with grief and regret at what I'm about to do. "It'll be over soon enough. Just think of Arvo."

"Go… to hell…" Eddie chokes, clawing at my arm while trying to breathe.

Now, this is one of those moments that you wish you could take back… but no matter how hard you try, it just keeps coming back into your head.

Grasping near his jawline on the left side of his head, I pull to the right as hard as I possibly can…

…and hear the most sickening crack of all time.

Nobody cheers. Nobody claps. Nobody even speaks at all. The only sounds I can hear are the heavy breaths and Clementine's shrill gasp, which cuts through the air like a knife. Instantly horrified at what I've done, I collapse near a snow pile and violently puke my guts out; wishing that somehow I could absolve this guilt. Eddie's on the ground, covered in blood and snow… with a neck that's completely out of shape. His eyes are glazed over and wide, as if even in death he's asking me how I could do something like this to him.

For as long as I live, I'll never forget today.

Extremely wobbly, I stand up and scream my heart out as my voice carries throughout the valley like a war cry – signalling to these monsters that I'm done. I'm finished with all of them and their sick, twisted games. Somehow, some way I will make these villains pay for what they made me do. I'm like Frankenstein's monster seeking revenge, and I will not be broken. Not as long as I have something to fight for.

"You let her go…" I snarl venomously, clenching my fist and practically daring anyone to try and take me down. Nobody seems to want to at this point. "You keep your part of the deal. Clementine comes with me, and you never go near us again."

"Well, holy shit…" Nate shakes his head in shock, putting his hand on his chin. "You're even more of a threat than I thought you were, sonny boy."

He wouldn't…

"YOU LET CLEMENTINE GO RIGHT FUCKING NOW – "

Suddenly, a number of gunshots go off from behind me, killing several crowd members and putting a bullet in Nate's shoulder. Tavia's spared by mere inches as a bullet goes whizzing past her face.

Walkers aren't too far behind, as is to be expected. Although slow-moving in this weather, they're still a threat, and with a group this size, their feeding frenzy is about to begin. Two men go down before they even knew the things were coming for them, but I instantly run through the crowd and over towards Clementine. In the chaos, nobody seems to give a damn that we're trying to escape.

_Clementine's POV_

Oh my god… Eddie… he… he killed him…. Luke was right – Lee's _not_ the same guy I remember! He's… I don't even know right now! He didn't have a choice, that's for certain, but… That wasn't normal. All I can do is to try and get back to Wellington in one piece – that's the only thing that matters.

The gun shots had to have come from Lilly and the rest of them, but I'm surprised that they managed to get everyone out here so quickly. I grab both of our backpacks from one of the storage units nearby, and I turn around to see Lee standing right in front of me.

"Oh god, Clem… I'm… I'm…"

"We need to get out of here," I inform him, tossing the bag towards the older man and ushering for him to follow behind. I'm not so sure he's in the right mindset to be travelling right now, but too bad. We didn't go through all of that just to die because Lee is traumatized.

I'm still unable to run, but I can move quickly enough among the chaos that we shouldn't be in that tight of a spot. Descending the steps, we make our way onto the trees and away from the warzone – that's the only word I can describe it with.

Their camp is getting flipped upside down. What started as a few walkers has turned into a few dozen. The gunfire from our group has stopped, but it was enough to draw the herd in, and that was probably the plan all along. You can't see Eddie anymore, but I do see his blonde-haired, bespectacled friend who's weeping near his corpse. I didn't really get to talk with him or any of these other people who were at Carver's main camp, but they seemed like ordinary, decent people who just wanted to wear this whole thing out. Unfortunately, their leaders have both turned out to be crazy, psychopathic maniacs who twist your words and convince you to join them. And since we've left the camp in such disarray, I'm pretty sure any attempt on our part to patch things up would be a waste of time.

With that scene behind us, we hobble over to Luke, who's situated nearby, and quickly make our escape. I've got a feeling the group dynamics are about to change dramatically.

_AN: Sooooo… that happened. Please don't hate me because I killed off Eddie! But once again, I need to ask you this: did he make the right choice? Was there really any chance of escaping this with Clem's life at risk, and Wyatt (as well as the other 400 Days characters) not in a position to help? What do you guys think?_

_Anyway, hopefully that wasn't too brutal of a read, but I'll try to post the next chapter soon! Until then, thanks for reading :) _


	8. All I need is a friend

_AN: WOOHOO! Fifty reviews after seven chapters! This is unreal, guys, seriously! Thank you for all the feedback on this – I love how this story's drawing so much controversy! It makes reading and writing this so much fun :) This one's going to be a bit short, but I just want to lighten up the situation a bit. Sarah and Clem's friendship must be further explored! It shall be so! _

_Btw, the song that I mention in this chapter is from the second last Harry Potter movie! I'd recommend checking it out; I think it fits in well with the whole theme of this game :)_

The walk back home is slow, cold and quiet, as I follow alongside Luke as Lee trudges along behind us. Every once in a while I turn my head around to see if he's keeping up, but all I see is a broken shell of a man. He never looks up as he walks, instead choosing to keep a low profile and study the footprints that we leave behind in the snow. Lee's shivering, but I'm not sure if it's from the cold or from what he just did, but either way he can't stop himself from doing it. The one time that I asked him if he was alright, he just shrugged and continued staring at the ground. Luke seemed to take notice.

"What happened back there?" Luke asks, turning to me as we see our camp in the distance. "Y'all were gone for a _long _time, and then Lilly and Mike showed up at Wellington and went on about how we couldn't find you or… him. Then she said something about you guys getting kidnapped at some camp, so we shot some of 'em to get you guys out of there. But Clem, he seems pretty shaken up. What went down?"

Glancing behind me again, I notice that Lee's fallen behind a little bit.

"Are you okay to keep going?" I ask him as we both wait for the big guy to catch up. "Wellington's not that far away now."

Looking between the two of us, Lee mutters something incoherently and brushes past us, walking down the hill at a snail's pace. Grimacing, I turn to Luke and shake my head. Now's not the time to have this conversation.

"Looks to me like he's shell-shocked," Luke says worriedly, patting my shoulder comfortingly. "Come on, we can talk more once we get back."

….

"What the fuck were you doing out there?!" Kenny yells angrily almost as soon as Lee walks through the gate. "Do you have any idea how much trouble you caused for us? We all thought you _died_, for fuck's sake! Don't just walk away from me, Lee! Where… Clem, what the hell's he doing?"

"Just leave him be for now," I mention quietly, all of us watching as he slips into his tent without a word. Taking a sharp intake of breath, I rub my tired eyes lazily and walk into my tent to see Sarah. I don't feel like talking to anyone else right now.

"Oh hey, you're back!" Sarah smiles, clearly unaware that I was in any sort of trouble. "I know we're a little bit old for it, but there's this really old playground that I found yesterday! Wanna go check it out?"

"Umm… alright, sure," I agree, hesitant at first since I suddenly don't really have the energy to do anything at the moment. Eddie's death is still heavy on my mind, and I can't help but feel sick to my stomach when thinking about Lee. But Sarah's just so… happy! It's kind of infectious, and if it weren't for all of this drama going on, then I probably would've been bouncing off the walls. Playgrounds used to be one of my favourite things to visit as a kid.

Before stepping outside again, I put my pistol in my pants pocket and sigh. Back in the day, if you had ever brought a gun to a playground you would've gotten arrested on sight. Now, you can't even go outside without one.

"We're going out for a bit," I try to inform the others, but they seem to be engaged in their own conversation. It looked to me like more of a fight than a conversation, but thankfully nobody's started throwing any punches… or snapped anyone's neck. _Sigh…_

"So what do you propose we do then?" Luke asks, exasperated as he places his hands upon his hips. "We ain't soldiers here! This is a good setup we've got going! There's no reason to go off and risk all of it just because you think they're gonna come kill us all!"

"Three weeks ago I specifically heard you say how stupid it was to try and come to Wellington," Kenny points out accusingly, his beard getting more ruffled by the minute, "And now you're so keen on staying but not doing a damn thing to defend it?"

"I'm focusing on the _now_, Kenny. We made it, yeah! You were right, and I was wrong – I get it! But we're not killing machines, okay? We're people!" Luke exclaims, glancing down at Sarah and I as we walk beside him. "Oh, hey there, guys. Don't mind us, we're just having a little spat."

"I can see that," I frown, folding my arms over my chest as I huff out a sigh of annoyance. "Can you guys ever agree on _anything? _It's the same problem every day."

"Better than just blindly going along with one person's opinion…" Lilly mumbles before turning to Kenny, "Look, I hear what you're saying, but forcing people to fight isn't going to do anything. They'll toss you out for even trying that, Kenny. Use your head – we need people to be on _our _side!"

"Ha! More like your side!" Kenny accuses, "People here actually _trust _you! Everyone thinks that I'm the fucking bad guy who's in way over his head, and just has a few screws loose because of my eye! No matter what, I can't do right by you people!"

"You've got a pretty shitty track record there, Kenny. It's no wonder that they don't like you that much…"

"Are you always going to go back to the same pointless argument?! Jesus! It's like you people just don't give a damn anymore!"

"GUYS!" I interrupt, slightly grabbing their attention. "Fight this out amongst yourselves, but Sarah and I are going out. We'll be back later today. Come on, Sarah. Let's go."

"Clem, wait!"

Turning around with a curious expression, I notice that everyone (including Bonnie, Mike and Jane) have stopped talking, and all have serious expressions on their faces. Uh oh.

"We need to know," Lilly sighs, glancing over at Lee's tent, "Something's wrong with him – Lee looked like someone punched him in the gut when he got here. We know they had him at their camp, but… do you know what happened?"

"He…" I shudder, tormented by graphic images of Lee and Eddie in the ring, while all of the camp jeering them on. "He'll tell you when he's ready."

"Clementine, this is serious," Kenny orders, trying to get me to spill the beans. "You need to tell us, 'cause he sure as shit ain't talking to anyone except you."

Damn it! Why are these people so stubborn?!

"Just… I don't want to talk about it right now, okay?" I ask, letting off a defeated and broken expression. I'm not lying – I'm honestly not ready to deal with that right now.

When they say nothing, I slowly walk away with Sarah right on my tail. We travel through the camp, ignoring the occasional stares of men and women as we pass them by. Many of them are the same people who offered to help us move Arvo last night, so I'm able to recognize a few faces. No names, though – I don't know any of them.

Somebody must have fixed up a radio nearby, because we both can hear the soft sound of music playing as it drifts towards our ears. It makes me smile sadly as it goes on, as if a little piece of our past lives managed to remain even through all of this darkness. I recognize the song, too: "O' Children", by Nick Cave. My mom used to play it on her old tape recorder that she'd bring up from the basement to put me to sleep – it would work every time.

Sarah links arms with me as we walk along; almost knowing that I'm not feeling that great. God, Sarah's such a good friend… always there when you need her most. She and Duck probably would've gotten along great…

"It's over here, through the trees," Sarah informs me, leading us down a little dirt path that cuts to the right just before you get to the lake. Looking closely enough, you can see a pair of canoes out on Lake Michigan probably doing the same thing that Kenny and I did.

"Watch your head," she tells me right as I'm about to get a face-full of pine leaves. Those things sting, too! "Here it is! I found it a little while back, but I didn't know if you'd think it was lame or something."

The place isn't very big, and parts of it certainly don't look that safe for children to play on, but… this is magical. Everything's covered in snow, but it only makes everything look more pristine and innocent. There's a swing set for three people that sits right next to an old see-saw, and then of course you've got the rusty, broken down slide with – wait, is that a captain's wheel up there?! Hell yeah! This is wicked! I haven't been so excited to go on a playground in… well, ever!

"We've gotta try this stuff out," I smirk, attempting to race Sarah to the top of the playground (though she obviously beats me due to my foot). She helps me climb up the small set of stairs, and I almost slip due to the snow. When Sarah actually _does _slip trying to prevent me from falling, that's when the child-like laughter really begins.

"Oww! Aha, Clem! That hurt a lot more than I thought it would!"

"At least the snow broke your fall," I giggle, offering a hand as she takes it and stands back up. "Okay, are you going to be the captain, or should I?"

"You can. I've never liked going on the ocean," she jokes, earning a playful shove from me as I take the wheel. "Where are we setting sail first, captain?"

"Argh!" I yell out like a pirate, closing one eye and pretending that I have a peg leg instead of a prosthetic. Hey, at least some good came out of it getting chopped off I suppose. "We set sail for… umm, how about… New York?"

"Pirates don't go to New York!" Sarah complains, looking out of the playground telescope they have on this thing.

"I'm the captain on this here ship!" I command in a cartoonish voice, twirling the wheel around in my hands. "And we're going to New York! Statue of Liberty, straight ahead!"

"You're going to hit it!" Sarah jokes, dramatically taking the other side of the wheel as if we're about to crash. "To the right, captain! We've got huge waves coming on the side of the boat! We're doomed!"

For added effect, she then goes down the slide and lays in the snow; arms spread wide and tongue playfully hanging out the side of her mouth.

"Sarah overboard!" I call out, abandoning the wheel to dive into the ocean and pull her to safety. "You're a lot heavier than I remember!"

"Hey!"

"You can't talk, Sarah," I remind her, a smirk playing upon my lips, "You're drowning, remember?"

"Oh yeah," she says, immediately closing her eyes and rolling her head back. "Can I at least breathe?"

"I guess…" I rub my chin thoughtfully, until my gaze lands on the other stuff around this playground. "But I can't drag you to the swings, so… crap…"

"What is it?" Sarah asks, lifting her body up to see what I'm frowning at. Once she sees it, Sarah intakes a sharp breath and her eyes go wide again.

Thankfully, this walker doesn't seem to have any legs left, as the poor thing must've had them eaten off after getting caught by a group of them. Still, one of us needs to do the right thing and put her down, but I don't think that Sarah really wants to do it.

"Give me a minute, alright?" I tell the older girl, to which she sadly nods her head and goes back up to the playground. Once she's out of my view, I trudge over to the walker slowly while taking out a hammer that Luke had given to me a while back.

Looking down, I can't help but feel bad for it. I mean, I know that a walker isn't human anymore, and that it's nothing but a hungry, flesh-decaying mass. But even in death, she looks so… sad. Like she had nothing left to live for as she was torn apart by the same monster that she's now become.

"I'm sorry this happened to you…" I murmur quietly, before the hammer at her head and smashing down three times. It's disgusting, and the rancid smell of death fills my nostrils as I pull the hammer out, but it's necessary.

Not wanting to touch it any more than I have to, I walk back over to find Sarah sitting with her legs dangling over the railings of the playground. Her head is down, and it looks like she's really depressed.

"It's never going to stop, is it?" she asks me quietly as I sit down beside her. "This, I mean. My dad always told me that things would get better, but…"

"We can't worry about the things we can't control," I tell her, quoting Lee from over two years ago when we were separated from everyone else. "People are going to die no matter what we do. It's hard, but as long as we stick together then we'll be safe."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Sighing deeply, I take Sarah's hand and try to brighten the mood a little bit; practically dragging her over to the see-saw. You should see how her mood flips once we both take a few turns of bouncing up and down on this thing. It's as if she's a whole other person!

You know, for the first time, I'm seeing Sarah in a whole new light. She's not just some terrified, useless, defenseless little girl. Sarah is our group's last ray of humanity and purity – she's there to remind us of what kind of people we _actually _are, and not the survivor, kill all the walkers type of people that we appear to be.

"Clementine?" she asks me suddenly.

"What's up?"

"We're… we're friends, right? We can be best friends?"

Looking into her dark eyes, I see a mixture of hope and need. She's not asking me to be her best friend. What she's really asking is if I'll ever abandon her for someone else, since I'm pretty much the only friend around her age that she's got.

We're practically sisters now.

"Definitely," I nod, smiling as we do a pinky swear across the see-saw, "Best friends for life."


	9. Iron out the wrinkles

"Hey Sarah? I'll catch up with you in a little while, okay? There's some things that I've gotta take care of," I inform her, going our separate ways as we make our way back towards our group. I've gotta say – I can't remember the last time that I've enjoyed myself that much, and we were both slightly disappointed that things had to return to normal again in just a couple of hours. But as the sun slowly started to dip down across the sky, Sarah and I both knew that it was time to get back. Things just aren't as safe at night.

Kenny's sitting in a fold-up lawn chair across the way, and waves to me slightly as I walk towards Lee's tent. Mike and Bonnie are chatting over by the fire, and Jane's sitting quietly by herself, but Luke and Lilly are nowhere to be seen. I wonder if their fight just sent them all over the edge this time. Hopefully not, but it wouldn't surprise me. This has been going on for weeks now.

Poking my head inside the flap of the tent, the first thing I notice is that Lee's hunched over his bed with his head in his hands; distraught and probably unwilling to talk to anybody. That doesn't mean that I won't at least try, however.

"Can I come in?" I ask quietly, to which he shifts over to his right a little bit. I take that as acceptance, so I slowly make my way over and stand awkwardly in front of him. Lee still has his head in his palms.

"So, listen…" I trail off, putting my hands behind my back and looking around the interior of the tent. "I umm… wanted to check on you – make sure you were okay."

"Two and a half years ago, I had come home early from work at the university," Lee says suddenly as I get a good look at the man. His eyes are glossy, with heavy bags underneath and an unshaven beard. His skin has lost some of its colour, which is most likely due to him not eating enough and… from all of this. Clearly he's been stewing in here for the last couple of hours. "I pulled into the driveway, got out of my car and stood there for a second. I couldn't figure out why there was an SUV sitting there. Neither of us could afford one of those – Donna worked part time at a daycare, and I was scarcely paying off the bills on my salary alone."

"When I opened the door to the house, I immediately thought something was up. Donna's shoes were tossed aside carelessly and another pair of men's dress shoes were sitting right beside them. I walked upstairs, past several layers of clothing sprawled out on the floor, and charged into the room. Donna had cheated on me."

So this is what he's talking about… I never really knew the details of why he was supposed to go to prison that day – just that he did something really awful. Taking my seat next to him, I let him ramble on for a bit longer.

"Without even thinking, I grabbed the lantern, ran over to the guy and beat him to death. When Donna tried to stop me… I lashed out at her too. It didn't take very long to sink in – and immediately after I killed them, I ran for thirty minutes all the way to the police station. I remember the cops saying how frantic I was, while I came in covered in blood and sweat; telling them to lock me away for two accounts of murder. The details are kind of fuzzy after I told them that, since I pretty much zoned out after they sent a team to investigate my house. Thirty minutes later, I found out that it was a state senator that she slept with, and that I was going to jail for two cases of manslaughter. I was supposed to rot in jail for the rest of my life."

"Lee…"

"That car ride to Atlanta State Penitentiary was the longest time of my life," he continues on solemnly, shaking his head as he recalls that fateful day. "The cop could talk your ear off, but all I kept thinking about was: this is it. My life is officially over. I'd never get to see my brother or parents again unless they visited, but at that point they pretty much disowned me. That's also why Larry was always such an ass to me all the time – he knew who I was, and he wanted to keep _you _from getting hurt, too."

"So when all of this stuff started happening, and you found me inside your house… I thought to myself that it might be different. I thought that I'd have a chance to redeem myself; to start fresh and not make the same mistakes that I did before. I tried so hard to do the right thing – not killing the St. John's, not stealing the food, trying to keep you safe… but look at me now."

"You can't blame yourself for that," I tell him, swinging my legs over the edge of his bed.

"Eddie's dead because of me," Lee says somberly, his fist gripping the sheets and turning his knuckles white, "I killed him, Clementine. And you had to watch me do it. It doesn't matter what Nate had said – it was me, and me alone who murdered that poor kid."

"There was no choice here, Lee," I tell him softly, looking at his downcast expression, "We'd all be dead if you hadn't done what you did."

"I should've waited…"

"There was no way of knowing they would come."

"It's not that simple, Clementine," Lee breathes out while closing his eyes, "Killing someone… it changes you. It can _consume _you if you let it define who you are. Hell, even those psychopaths were shocked at what I did. There's no coming back from this… not after the things I've done… the people I've lost."

"You're not the only one who's lost somebody," I remind him firmly, shocked at the self-pitying hole that he's dug himself into.

"That's not what I meant, Clem, and you know it."

"Then what did you mean?!" I ask forcefully, stepping in front of him again, "People die all the time, whether you like it or not! That's just what happens these days! People _have _to kill sometimes! Sometimes it's a choice between whether you want to live to the next day or not! Kill or be killed! SO DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE AND ACT LIKE YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE WHO'S SUFFERING HERE!"

If this was Kenny or anyone else, they probably would've just shrugged me off and told me to go to hell for being so up front about this.

But this is Lee Everett – the man who's as close to a father as I'm ever going to get, and he can see right through my blanket of anger. He knows there's more to this than I'm letting on.

"…what happened, sweet pea?"

"The leader of their group, Carver…" I say flatly after having calmed down at Lee's soothing tone, "I… I killed him. They took me into the woods… said that I was going to be the "next generation" for them. That night I let his friend get eaten by walkers, and I stabbed Carver…"

Lee sits there, completely dumbfounded. Here I am – in his eyes as being the sweet, little girl that he looked after for all that time. Now I just dropped the bomb on his little world.

"…who else knows?"

"You, Lilly and Luke. I haven't told Kenny yet…"

"Alright… Jesus…"

"Nobody's innocent anymore!" I raise my voice slightly, folding my arms across my chest. "You can't be! Trying to be will get you killed!"

"Clementine – "

"I thought you were _dead _for two whole years!" I cry out, sitting on the ground pathetically. "I watched my parents come back and try to _eat you! _Do you know what that feels like? Everyone I have ever loved has either died… or left me… And when you came back that day, I thought that maybe – just maybe – things could go back to normal again. But I was wrong! You don't trust anyone besides Lilly and I, every time you see Kenny you guys want to strangle each other, and you don't even try talking to Luke! Please, Lee! I don't want to lose you again, but if you keep doing this then… It's going to happen!"

Both of us sit in silence for a moment – neither of us meeting each other's gazes as I stare at the ground. My words were harsh, for sure, but I had to get them off my chest. I'm so sick of walking on eggshells around here; enough is enough! And if it takes the closest person to him in order for him to get the message, then so be it.

"I think…" Lee stammers suddenly, looking into my eyes, "You and I need to… take some time to sort things out."

That's a code name for: we just had a big fight, and we need to spend some time apart until we both cool down a little bit. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but he looks adamant about it.

"Hey," Lilly's muffled voice calls out as she slips her head through the tent flap, "Everything alright in here? I heard some shouting from outside."

"Don't worry about it," Lee sighs, glancing at me briefly before turning back to Lilly, "Are things good out there?"

"Not really, but I could ask you the same thing," Lilly replies shortly, raising an eyebrow at him quizzically. "You're acting strange, Everett - in more ways than one. Are you alright?"

"I don't think being alright even applies anymore, Lilly. But… I'll tell you later, when things calm down a little bit. Now, what's going on outside?"

I want to get away… I want to get away from all of this and climb back in my treehouse again; waiting desperately for my parents to come home. Even though I'm surrounded by people who in their own ways care about me equally, I've still never felt so alone.

Lee's giving up – I can tell. On fighting back, on living… maybe he's even starting to give up on _me. _Clearly he's not in the right frame of mind, but then again, am I really any different? I just spilled my guts out to one of my closest friends, and all it's done is make things worse.

"It's a shit-show out there," Lilly explains as we slowly follow her out, "While you two were away, Kenny's been talking about getting prepared for those goons that took you two to come back… Says that we need to fortify the place and have everybody on high alert."

"What's the problem, then?" Lee asks as we stop near a bench, "Aren't we already on the lookout around here? We've got people on night shifts, don't we? What's so different?"

"Don't you get it?" Lilly exclaims, rubbing her eyes tiredly, "Kenny's not just getting us prepared in case they come back – he's prepping people for _war_."

"Really…" Lee breathes out, holding his chin in contemplation.

"Yeah, and he expects _us _to help convince people! I mean, sure, I may have worked at an air force base, but that's hardly the same thing as this! We're not soldiers here!"

"Actually…" Lee interrupts, surprising both Lilly and I, "Look, I'm not saying that the way he's going about this is completely right – he's being too aggressive and not thinking clearly. I'm hardly the one to be talking, but… Kenny's sort of got a point."

"Declaring war on another camp isn't a smart idea, Lee."

"I know it's not, which is why we shouldn't do it. But just to get people aware of what could happen – that's what we need to do. Believe me, Lilly. Nate's a crazy son of a gun, and he's definitely going to try and come back here. And…"

Lee then looks sadly down at me, but I just turn away and look at the snow. There's no point in going over what I've already said. Lilly seems to have figured this out.

"You told him, then…"

"Yeah…" Lee answers when I don't respond, scratching his head sheepishly. "There were some things we both needed to say, that's all."

"I'm going to look for Luke," I say emotionlessly, not looking back if either of them try to protest.

We might be in some serious trouble here. Nate combined with Tavia and the remnants of Carver's camp… even with our gated community we won't stand much hope unless we can buckle down and try to wear this thing out. I'm pretty sure negotiating won't work, since we killed quite a bunch of people from their group, and basically left their campsite overrun with walkers. Nate's completely crazy, so I wouldn't put it past him if he tried to set Wellington up in flames.

But trying to take it over might be even worse, considering what kind of man he is.

"Hey Clem," Jane greets casually as I walk by. "Things are going downhill around here pretty quickly, wouldn't you say?"

"We've got water, food and protection," I list off on my fingers, "That's better than I can say for a lot of places."

"The in-fighting, I mean. This is why big groups like this fall apart, kid. You might want to consider going it alone if things get worse – trust me, I've seen what you can do. You'd have a fair shot."

"Why are you still here, then?" I ask, not rudely but just curiously.

Jane looks at the ground for a moment, biting her lip slightly and concentrating. "I'm debating on going or not," she explains, "Walkers are enough of a problem themselves, but now you've suddenly got these goons out looking for you! I don't want to be caught in the crossfire, and I… I don't want them to take you out, too."

"You'd feel bad if you left us behind," I conclude, checking the prosthetic as I sit down across from her. "Jane, we _need _you. Besides, how do you think Mike would feel if you just suddenly got up and left without telling anyone?"

"He'd understand eventually," Jane replies bluntly, for some reason taking out a nail file and handing it over to me. "You can use this for lots of things, like breaking open locks, killing walkers… Versatility is not overrated."

Holding the object in my hands, I study it for a moment before handing it back. "Keep it," I tell her, "You'd need it more than I would."

"Hell, Clem. With the way things are going around here, I don' think that's true."

"_Who the fuck are you?!" _we hear Mike yell out from his post, aiming the rifle at somebody as we rush over to see what the problem is. Kenny, Lilly and Lee follow close behind.

Standing there is a girl with dark brown hair that went down to her shoulders, with a black and yellow jacket and black jeans. Whoever she is, she certainly doesn't look happy to be here. To me at least, she looks like a school bus with what she's wearing.

"The name's Becca, asswipe. And I've come to give you a message from Nate," she spits before holding out a small suitcase from behind her back. "He said that you'd know what it means."

With that, she tosses the bag over the fence and scurries off into the woods, while all of us stand in a circle around it. Nobody goes within five feet of the thing.

"Is it some kind of… bomb?" Luke asks, having just popped in beside me.

"Shit! Is that what it is?!" Mike exclaims, backing up slowly before bumping into Bonnie. "Nobody open it, then! There could be anything in there!"

Where they'd have the skills to make one or the tools is beyond me, and we're probably just being paranoid, but who knows what's inside, really? Why would Becca drop something like that so carelessly?

Lee steps forward suddenly, as everyone around him watches in shock. What the hell is he doing?! If he opens that bag, then we might as well just kill ourselves now!

"Lee! Get back here, you son of a bitch!" Kenny urges, which is surprising because I'd have thought that he'd _want _Lee to get blown up. "You're gonna get us all killed!"

"You really think that it would reach you?" Lee questions, shooting him a glare, "Besides, it should be opened by the person who's got the _least _to lose here."

Oh god, Lee…

Bending down slowly, Lee bites his lip as he carefully opens up the bag; turning his head to the side in anticipation. He stays that way for a few seconds, until he opens his eyes again and peers inside.

All is quiet for a moment, save for the chilly wind that blows by and Sarah asking what everyone's looking at.

That's when Lee's eyes go incredibly wide, his skin goes pale and his hand starts shaking.

"Oh my god…" he murmurs, falling back straight on his ass and staring at the ground in disbelief.

I make my way over to get a better look, and what I see makes me sick to my stomach.

Sitting inside the bag… is Eddie's undead walker head. The message is clear.

War is coming.

_AN: Ooohhh… trouble's brewing ahead, folks! Hope you enjoyed that, and… sorry about the Clem and Lee fight there. Clearly they've got some wrinkles to iron out. Anyway, please leave a review my kind people! _


	10. Fire, Fire

_AN: Holy bananas, Batman! This is the most reviews I've ever gotten for a story on here, and this is only chapter ten! You guys are giving me a heart attack lol. Thank you, my Wellington reviewers (or should I say soldiers now)! Hope you like this next one!_

"What the hell are we gonna tell the rest of the camp?"

"Really, Luke?" Kenny asks angrily, gesturing to the bag sitting in the snow, "Eddie's fucking decapitated head is sitting like a bowling ball in there, and _that's _the first thing you think of?"

"Yes, actually! Because now we've got some fucking psychopath coming with a boat-load of people to take over Wellington – and I don't think the other people here are gonna be mighty too happy about some random assholes trying to destroy their home!"

Eddie's… head… is still moving around slowly in the bag. Obviously it's not enough to cause any physical damage, but if they were looking for a scare tactic, then it definitely worked. How could they do something like this?!

Immediately I go over to Sarah and block her line of sight.

"Clem! What's going on? I can't see anything!" she complains, trying to poke her head around in vain.

"Just… don't worry about it, alright? You don't need to look… all it would do is make you sad."

"Why? Did it make you sad, too?"

Glancing back over at that horrible scene (which Lee still hasn't gotten up from), I nod vigorously and encourage the two of us to find somewhere else to sit. I think she and I need to have a little chat.

"Clem, what's going on?" Sarah asks quietly as she sits across from me at a picnic table, "You're kind of freaking me out."

"I'm not gonna lie," I tell her directly, taking off my hat for a minute and rubbing my hand through my hair, "We're… in trouble. I mean the whole group is, and we're going to have to be prepared to fight back. That means guns, and that means shooting, and that means… dead things. Do you understand?"

"These aren't walkers, are they…" she asks, pretty much already knowing the answer by my tone of voice.

"I wish they were," I sigh, frowning slightly in sadness, "But no. These are bad people, Sarah. They're going to try and hurt us, but we won't let them, alright?"

"Why do people always want to hurt one another?" she asks inquisitively, shaking her head, "I mean, yeah, sometimes I get mad at people, but I'd never want to _hurt _anybody!"

"Sometimes people can be mean to each other, but that doesn't mean that you can't defend yourself. We need to be strong."

"You say that like it's so easy," she states matter-of-factly, "But not everyone can be like you, Clem. I'm just not built that way."

"But you can be," I encourage, putting my hand on top of hers, "It's just _in case _anything happens, but I know you can do this. Your… your dad would be really proud of you, I know he would."

Sarah doesn't seem to believe me, since as soon as I mention Carlos she hangs her head depressingly. She's probably imagining her dad sitting right next to us and telling her that everything's going to be alright, and that no matter what happens we're all going to get out of this together.

I can only hope that's true.

"_What do you mean people are coming to kill us?!" _we hear an older man say as a bunch of his friends join the group. His hair is greying at the sides, and his beard is starting to grey a bit too, but there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with him physically. _"What in blazes did you people do?! You dumbasses have been here for less than a month, and you're already bringing violence! What are we supposed to tell our families?! That they need to be on the lookout for thugs as well as those monsters out there?!"_

"We're sorry to involve you…" Bonnie mentions, looking slightly ashamed at the outcome. "But we need your help. _All _of your help, if we're going to make it through this."

"Is there any way to get some kind of peace treaty with these guys? I mean, I'd sure rather be willing to negotiate than test our luck with this stupid thing," Mike chips in.

Lilly looks over at Lee and the bag still on the ground and shakes her head. "Looks to me that they made it pretty clear what they want to do. All we can do is try to defend ourselves."

"Or we could toss your asses out of here!" another man suggests, folding his arms over his chest while the rest murmur in agreement. "We'll let you deal with your problems _yourselves!_"

"You do that, and they come to Wellington anyway and kill all of you without a second thought," Kenny states, referring to the type of people these guys are. "You ain't gonna get a better place than this – trust me, there's nothing out there like it."

"He's right," Jane chips in surprisingly, "The lake, the food, the gates… not many people can say that they've got the same."

"Which is why personally I'd rather stay here defending my _home_, rather than going off and abandoning the one good thing we've got going," Kenny finishes, putting his hands in his pockets.

Their group falls silent for a moment, with most people returning to what they were doing before, but a select few staying behind to work out some details. Sarah and I go up to see what's going on. Lee shakily picks up the bag and goes outside to dispose of the contents… as respectfully as he can.

"So can we count you guys in to help?" Luke asks, motioning to a completely bald guy with a motorcycle jacket, the older gentleman from earlier, and a woman with brown-blonde hair and an orange jacket.

"I suppose we don't have much of a choice now, do we?" the older guy says sarcastically. "I'm Vernon, this is Brie, and this punk over here is Roman."

"Watch it old man," Roman jokes, sharing a smirk with the old-timer. "So, you're sure about all of this? Are there really a bunch of assholes coming to try and kick us out?"

"There's no way they're bluffing… and if they are, then they've done a hell of a good job," Lilly comments dryly, "We need to come up with a defense strategy – they could be here tonight for all we know."

"We'll get you more familiar with some of the grounds," Vernon advises as we follow him down rows and pathways that we've never visited.

How the hell did I not see these things before? There are a couple of… poles, I'm guessing? They've got painted faces of birds, people and other animals on them, and to be quite frank they're kind of freaking me out a little bit.

"Totem poles," Luke says when he notices me rub my hand along the surface. "I've seen them in a couple of art museums before – they're actually pretty cool though, don't you think?"

"Yeah… wait, you've been to art museums?" I ask with a smirk, "I didn't see you as an artsy kind of guy."

"Well, I am a pretty mysterious guy," Luke jokes around, but the both of us straighten up as Lilly looks at us over her shoulder. Right, we need to stay focused here.

More tents line up around us, but theirs seem to be more… homier. They've made their surroundings reflect what they want it to, and you can tell that some of these people have been living here for quite some time. It's kind of nice actually, seeing a real community being formed here.

"Most of the townsfolk from this section aren't fighters, understand? They haven't had to deal with this kind of problem before, so don't be surprised if they want to shy away from any combat… myself included," Vernon concludes before leading us to what appears to be some sort of bunker.

"There's not a whole lot of room in there, especially if you're going to try and fit a bunch of people inside, so be mindful of that when setting up your fortifications," Vernon instructs, opening the door and revealing a dusty, grey room that looks like it really hasn't been used for anything in a very long time. There are old Scouts Club posters that are still taped to the wall, a couple of campsite maps revealing some nature trails and a table for cards and such.

Lee catches up to us, takes one sad look at me and goes over to study the maps. This whole cool-down thing might take longer than I thought it would.

"I'll be running things in here – trying to keep people calm and whatnot," Brie informs us, to which we all nod. Somebody needs to do it, so who better than a person who's been here for a while? "We can put some food on the right side of the building and other essentials, but you're going to have some angry people on your hands. Half of their things are going to have to be left behind."

"Do you have anything we could use as a bunker? Sandbags or anything like that?" Lilly asks as I look over at some of the old posters. I'm so glad that my parents never signed me up for one of these things.

Roman looks wearily at Vernon, and then shrugs his shoulders. "The best we can do are the canoes, probably. But, uh, I don't think they'll do much against bullets."

"We'll stack them, but it's just as a precaution," Lilly nods, probably formulating a plan right now. "Nobody should be out in the open like that anyways. So, where to next?"

…..

After about an hour and a half of touring the grounds, Lilly, Lee and Kenny get to work on assigning positions and tactics out to people. Originally, the three of them insisted that I stay in the bunker with Sarah, but there's no way that I'm staying in there – not with my friends' lives hanging in the balance. Instead, they suggested that I stick with Bonnie and Luke near the trees in back. We're joined by three other people whom I don't know, but our job is to keep them from getting too close to the bunker, the lake or our food supply.

"You're our last line of defence, okay?" Lilly told me, placing a hand upon my shoulder. "You've got this, I know you do. Just stay close to Luke and Bonnie, and you'll be fine. If all goes well, you might not even need to fire a bullet at all."

Come on, Lilly! When do our plans ever go well?

We aren't sure at all when or _if _they're coming at all, so I'm sitting against the tree just talking to Luke and Bonnie while the other three are talking amongst themselves.

"Never thought I'd have to do something like this," Bonnie comments, pushing a strand of hair back behind her ear.

"You bet," Luke agrees, shaking his head slowly in disbelief, "Don't we have enough problems as it is? I mean, you saw them, Clem. How many people do you think they had?"

"It's not the number of them that we should worry about… It's who we're dealing with," I murmur solemnly, bringing my knees up to my chest. "You saw what they did to Eddie – they're animals."

"I've never felt so sick in my entire life, that's for sure. If this is really happening… then we do it for him. Eddie and Arvo deserved better," Bonnie says more confidently, clenching a fist tightly.

Seemingly in his own little world, I wait a moment before nudging him on the knee.

"You okay?" I ask as all three of us huddle closer together for some form of warmth. I'm in the middle, with Bonnie on my right and Luke on my left.

"Just, uh… thinking about Nick, actually," he laughs mirthlessly while reminiscing on old times. "The kid was always getting into shit, but every time we'd either laugh about it or shake it off. Just didn't think his luck would run out, you know?"

"This is for him, too," I whisper as I glance out at the lake. "For Nick, Pete, Alvin, Rebecca, Carlos, Ben… Duck…"

"All of them," Bonnie agrees, wrapping a friendly arm around my shoulders. God, I love these guys. "We'll keep their memories alive."

Falling silent for a moment as the sun begins its descent, we watch as a raccoon scurries about near the shoreline; shaking out its fur as it steps away from the freezing-cold water.

"I'd totally eat the shit out of that raccoon," Luke comments, earning snorts from Bonnie and I as he realizes what he just said. "Err, I mean, umm… I would really love to eat that raccoon. If we weren't positioned here by Officer Lilly and her two generals, then I'd totally go over there and… you know what, I'm just gonna stop talking now."

"Probably a good idea."

An hour passes, and then another… at this point, my eyes are starting to dip down slowly. However, as soon as I realize what I'm supposed to be doing, I immediately shoot my head back and force my eyes to open wide, much to the amusement of Bonnie and Luke.

"Clearly you haven't mastered the art of All-Nighters," Luke smirks, adjusting his body so that he's more comfortable. "Trust me, once you hit eighteen, you'll be doing it all the time."

"Maybe that's why you're so miserable all the time," Bonnie jokes, sticking her tongue out at Luke's fake-insulted expression.

Leaning my sleepy head against Luke's shoulder, I can almost hear Bonnie's "Aww!", but that's drowned out by the loud yelling of some other people… and it's coming from the entrance…

Shit.

Quickly breaking apart and pulling out our guns, I hear Luke swear under his breath. We can't see too much, since Vernon insisted that we not have any fires tonight in order to prevent the enemy from seeing where they were going. Our only companion is the moon that's reflecting off the waves of Lake Michigan, but that's not going to help Lee and the rest of them too much. I hope he's alright…

"_You've got one chance to surrender and get out here, you fucking cowards!" _I hear Nate's voice call out. He must be using a bullhorn or something, since there's no way we'd be able to hear him from over here. _"Come on out, kiddies! I'll even give you a candy bar if you want! My treat, I swear!"_

"Told you he's nuts," I whisper quietly to my two friends, who don't say anything at all. From my position against the tree, I can see two of the other people that we're with, but the last one is obstructed from my field of vision.

"Nothing gets past us," one of the men say aloud, as I hear him loading up his rifle. "Let's try to take them by surprise if we can, alright?"

"You've got it," Luke agrees, nodding in the darkness.

Did I mention that I'm absolutely terrified right now? No light, a weaker leg, a pistol up against their bigger guns, and my small frame. No wonder Lilly stuck me back here…

But then I remember: that night out in the woods with Troy and Carver. I was smaller than the both of them, as well as bound and weaponless, and I still managed to outsmart them. I just need to use my small size to my advantage, and I should be able to survive this. If not, then I'll see Mom and Dad on the other side.

"_Nobody wants to come out to play? But I brought snacks!" _Nate booms; his voice echoing around us and sending a cold shiver up my spine. Or maybe that's just some snow, I don't know. _"Fine then! Have it your way! I brought some barbecue stuff, too! I'm making BURGERS!"_

"What's he talking about?" Bonnie asks, to which I shrug in response. I can barely understand him when he talks normally, let alone when he's forcing us to surrender.

"I don't hear any gunshots yet," Luke comments, poking his head out from behind the tree for just a brief second. "Maybe they're… negotiating?"

I sincerely doubt that, as in the distance I can faintly smell… smoke? Oh no!

Some of our tents are being lit on fire, and the howling of Nate reverberates through the bullhorn like a criminal mastermind. This is no bluff, this is no prank or illusion he's pulling over our eyes.

Nate and Tavia's group is here, and they're getting ready to kill us all.


	11. Lay me down

_AN: I had to listen to metal and some hard rock to write this thing XD Hopefully I haven't messed it up! Btw, thank you to Rebloxic for giving me a few ideas for this! Check out his stories if you get a chance!_

_Lee's POV_

I can tell you one thing: we do _not _have enough people to take on all of these guys. There must be a few dozen in this little army that Nate's cooked together; armed to the teeth and looking like barbarians about to pillage a village.

In fact, I think that's exactly what they're doing right now, as the orange and red flames dance on the fabric of two of our tents; engulfing them in its fiery embrace. Shit's going down tonight, that's for sure.

"Should we take them out?" Mike asks as he, Roman, Jane and I hide behind a pillar of wooden boards. We're a fair distance away from them, but it won't be long before they search the camp.

"Not until we see the signal," Jane whispers harshly, glaring at the army and probably cursing their names. "We can't reveal our position; we'll get overwhelmed if we do it too early."

Glancing behind us, I look at Lilly questioningly, who puts up one finger. Soon, Lee – we'll attack them soon. The only reason we can see each other is because of Nate's "barbecue", but I can't even see him anymore. Fucking coward… he's putting other people in danger to protect his sorry ass.

No matter what, I'm going to be the one to put him down. Count on it.

"Damn it," Roman clenches his fist, "Everything we worked so hard for…"

"After this, we won't need to worry about them ever again," I encourage, watching as Lilly's about to give us the signal. She's up top on the observation deck with Kenny, and are both holding rifles to shoot people at a distance. I bet they're _really _enjoying each other's company up there…

"We shouldn't have to do this at all, though…"

Suddenly, Lilly frantically motions forward, and the onslaught begins. They can't see where my shots are coming from thankfully, and I've already fired three direct hits into three different people. I've gotten pretty good at shooting with one hand.

Jane, Mike and Roman all start shooting as well, and this thing already seems like a massacre. Bodies are lining the ground, and a couple of the people actually fall back into the burning tents before they die. Crimson blood paints the snow as I reload; hiding behind the pillar as the retaliation starts. Their aim isn't very good, but Roman managed to get clipped in the shoulder slightly as a stray bullet found its mark.

"Argh! Shit!" he curses, clutching his shoulder tightly to try and stop the blood flow. We don't have a lot of medical supplies out here right now. More bullets whizz by and hit our barrier; sending saw dust and chunks of wood to fly around our faces.

"_PULL BACK AND SPREAD OUT! FIND COVER!" _Tavia bellows as we send more people to their deaths. One of them is that Russell guy that I was with in the basement cellar, and he's gasping for air as Nate looms over top of him. If I could just get a good angle… Oh my god! He's… using him as some kind of human shield?! What the serious fuck?!

"This ain't gonna work!" Mike yells over the sound of gunfire, turning to me, "We need to keep them from getting too deep! There's a shit-load of people out here!"

Looking behind me again, I can't get orders from Lilly, since she seems to be preoccupied with shooting some of the people, as is Kenny. What can we possibly use to block their pursuit?

…the totem poles.

"Roman, you've still got the grenades, right?" I ask, wincing slightly as I get a look at his wound. He simply nods painfully and points to his pack. We've only got a handful of these things, so I need to make them count. We're not running some sort of military camp filled with ammunition over here.

"Someone needs to cover me!" I whisper as more of their army search for lambs to slaughter. Jane quickly nods and follows me to the right; through some of the unburned homes. Luckily, we know this camp a lot better than Nate's forces do.

"We need to block their pursuit before they get over here. What are you gonna do?" Jane asks, scanning for any signs of activity.

Opening the pack, I tell Jane to cover me as I pull the pin and toss it carefully over to some of the totem poles. This better go well…

_BOOM!_

Down go two of the poles; successfully blocking them for the time being and even crushing a few bodies underneath their weight. You can almost hear the bones in their legs being crushed, but you can definitely hear their screams of pain as they flail about like fish.

But both of us know that won't hold them off for long. There's too many paths to follow in this camp – I just hope the others are alright. They'd better keep my girl safe…

_Clem's POV_

"Did y'all hear that?" Luke asks, his breath getting hitched in his throat.

"Yeah… do they have explosives down there?" Bonnie questions aloud, pointing to a few stragglers that have flashlights out. Now's the time for us to strike…

"Steady… steady…" Luke motions, placing a hand on my shoulder in anticipation. "Now!"

Poking out from behind our cover, we fire a barrage into the two unknown men; just hoping silently that they weren't accidentally on our side. With the way they were creeping around, though, I don't think we need to worry about that.

Besides, they're dead now anyway.

"How'd they get this far already?!" I whisper harshly, gasping as I recover my breath. This gets your adrenaline pumping like crazy! "They couldn't have broken through that quickly, right?"

"Let's just worry about what we're supposed to be doing," Luke says intently, noticing some more people coming this way. "Fuck! There's a whole bunch this time! Where's… oh shit."

Walkers?! Really?! They've gotten to two of the people who were on watch with us – these guys must've been alerted by the gunfire and gotten the jump on them. They're busy feasting on their turkeys from Thanksgiving, which gives us plenty of time to take some of them out. We won't be able to take on the whole group though, as there are at least twenty-something there.

Unless…

"We should lure them out!" I exclaim, grabbing Bonnie's arm to try and stop her from going further. Luke and Bonnie both look at me like I'm crazy.

"Clem, do you know how dangerous that is?! I don't want to juggle around with our lives here! Plus, how would we stop them from hurting friendlies?" Luke asks, his mouth hanging slightly ajar at even the suggestion that we do something so reckless.

"We can't take them all on at once, though! Use them as… umm, sponges! Yeah, they'll take some of the bullets and get rid of them at the same time! Trust me… I did the same sort of thing with Troy…"

"Fuuuuuuccccckkkk…." Luke breathes out, shaking his head but relenting. "This better work, Clem. Alright, how do we get them out here?"

"Act like a chicken," Bonnie suggests, with me giggling slightly even though we're in a war zone. She seems to be completely serious though. "We need to get out into the open, make a bunch of noise and then sprint to safety. They'll notice Tavia's army, and then we run back to our position before anyone notices. Quickly!"

Taking out three more of their soldiers, we all do as Bonnie suggested and jump around (well, I kind of just pretend I'm jumping due to the prosthetic) while waving our hands in the air; looking like absolute morons. I swear to you – Luke's doing jumping jacks in the middle of a war.

"Over here!" I shout, internally chanting in victory as a bunch of the walkers notice our presence. Stumbling along, we slowly back up towards some of the tents, glancing around them to find that their soldiers are closer than we expected.

And… we've just left the bunker completely unattended.

"This isn't working…" Luke murmurs to me, "The lurkers ain't coming fast enough."

Another blast goes off, deafening my ears as the walkers creep forward unfazed. Some of them have gone and banged their gnarly hands on the door of the bunker… oh god… Brie just opened the door…

"NOOOO!" I scream out, watching as three walkers tackle Brie to the ground and just start devouring her alive; her screams matching the terrified ones of everyone inside. I watch in horror as they rip her to pieces – pulling her intestines apart like a bunch of spaghetti noodles.

I _have _to get to Sarah, and quickly!

"Clem! Come back!" Luke shouts after me as I walk beside a sea of walkers to get back to the bunker. Thanks to my small size, they can't see me as well and are more interested in the soldiers who've started breaking through our defenses. I can't see Bonnie or Luke anymore, but I have to believe that they've made it out.

Why is it that whenever you don't want things to go wrong, they always end up ten times worse?

This is all my fault. The walkers have broken into the bunker, and more than one person in there is getting chewed on by a hungry walker. I hear some gunshots going off, so someone at least is able to defend them. But as I fire off a couple of rounds and make my way inside…

"Clementine!" Sarah screeches out, trying to get out of a walker's grasp. There's a mass of frightened people in this small space, and getting to Sarah is extremely difficult. I tell her desperately to hold on.

And then…

"CLEMENTINEEEE!" she screams out my name, backed up into a corner and pushing against the hulking mass pitifully. I hear Carlos' voice in my head, begging me to keep his little girl safe.

But I can't.

The walker plunges downwards at Sarah's chest, making a sickening ripping sound as he comes back up with a mouthful of flesh and blood. Sarah's flailing her arms about trying to get the beast off while also screaming in pain, banging her fists against the walker.

"SARAH!" I yell out, putting a bullet in its brain along with the other two walkers that managed to get in here. Dead bodies fill the floor, while the shocked faces of the living burst into tears as they cradle their loved ones.

My attention's focused on my friend with the glasses.

"No… I'm not letting this happen…" I cry pathetically, dropping to my knees and placing my hand atop her chest to try and somehow prevent her from dying. Blood seeps through the spaces between my fingers as my crying intensifies.

"You promised…" Sarah wheezes out, her eyes wide and unfocused as her glasses lay broken on the floor, "Why… why did you lie to me?"

"God damn it, Sarah! You're not dying on me! Not… not like this… I tried to save you, I really did! Jesus… I'm so sorry, Sarah!"

"Are… are we still friends?" she asks, her mind probably going loopy as she goes from blaming me for all of this to being the innocent, little girl that I've come to love over the past few months.

"Always…" I weep, grasping her hand tightly as she slowly starts to lose consciousness. "Best friends for life, remember?"

"Yeah… I think that's… good… Clementine…" she finishes slowly before her eyes grow dim and her hold on my hand weakens.

"No…" I whisper hoarsely, desperately clutching onto her hand tightly and fighting back tears as I clench my teeth.

I've… I've failed her. I told Carlos that I'd watch over her and keep her safe… but that may have been the biggest lie of them all. I lead this poor girl in my arms to her death, and there's no bringing her back. That fantasy we were living in at the park… the times that we played board games and stay up talking about all kinds of things… Was it all just a sham? Did she mean nothing to me? Was Sarah just another pawn for me to advance my own life?

She couldn't be… like I said, we were best friends.

Vernon carefully walks over to me and bends down to my level – which is basically the floor at this point – to offer his condolences.

"I'm terribly sorry," he says quietly, looking heartbroken himself as Brie just died but moments ago, "This is an awful time, I know, but – "

"I'll take care of it," I reply emotionlessly, not bothering to wipe away the few stray tears that roll down my cheeks. Sure, we wouldn't have been able to get rid of all the walkers _and _deal with the remaining soldiers at the same time, but it was still my choice to lead them out here. It's my fault that Sarah's dead, so I need to be the one to end it.

Wordlessly, I stand up, look her straight in the face, aim my pistol and fire; ignoring the startled yelps and dirty looks of the remaining patrons. I'd count how many there are in this deathtrap, but I've got other things on my mind.

I want to get out of here – this place makes me feel incredibly ill, and even if I can't bury her, I can at least give Sarah a proper send-off.

Grasping onto her hand, I drag her lifeless body unceremoniously out of the bunker – over other dead bodies and causing a few people to jump out of the way in surprise. Checking outside, most of the walkers appear to be gone or put down now, and I don't hear anymore gunfire. Did we win? Is it over before anything really began?

I've got a feeling that's not going to be the case at all.

Dragging her slowly towards the bank of the lake, I carefully toss her into the freezing water; the numbness creeping from my toes up to my knee as I step into the inky blackness. The moon still illuminates the surroundings, so it looks a little bit more peaceful at least. This might not exactly classify as a funeral, but perhaps I can put her memory to rest. It's literally the least I can do after my colossal failure.

"I'm sorry, Sarah…" I say to her, letting the girl float on the calm waters as I stand there watching in silent sadness and grief.

"Clem?" Luke asks, clutching his arm as Bonnie (thankfully) joins him on the shoreline – both of them watching to see what I'm up to.

"Sarah…" I whisper sadly, but loud enough for them to hear. "I… It's all my fault… I couldn't save her…"

Luke looks absolutely traumatized, and Bonnie doesn't look much better. They're probably wondering how things could have gone so wrong so quickly, and I can't help but join them on shore as I collapse uselessly against Luke. Bonnie's hugging the both of us while stroking her hand soothingly through my hair, and I desperately need the comfort right now.

It's the only way that I can get through this nightmare.


	12. Exiled

_AN: I'm going to use a quote that spiderclone used in one of the reviews! I hope you don't mind :O_

Daylight slowly reveals the carnage and destruction that took place last night – making it seem like something out of a disaster movie. Tents torn apart or burned to crisps, bodies littering the ground unmoving and bloody, and scraps of supplies and personal mementos tossed around like garbage. Wellington's a mess.

Residents are already weeping and burying their loved ones as we pass by. None of them are even remotely happy that we managed to drive off our attackers, due mostly to all they've lost, but also of the realization that they might not be finished. This looks more like a refugee camp than a community now – like the ones that Lee used to talk about whenever he'd get caught up in a historical fact. I keep my eyes glued forward when possible, but sometimes I can't help but gaze at the displaced persons who are silently asking why this had to happen.

I wouldn't wish this situation on anybody.

"This must have been what we heard last night," Luke remarks as he bends down to examine the fallen totem poles. If you look closely, you can see the part that was blown off near the bottom – with splinters sticking out and a few people (now walkers) trapped underneath. Not wanting this to be a hazard, Luke unsheathes his machete and drives it into the skulls of the infected individuals.

Shaking his head, Luke grabs Bonnie's hand and walks away from the grizzly scene, with me following right behind them.

….

"I'm fine, god damn it! Leave it be!" Lilly yells at Lee as he examines her carefully, lifting her shirt up slightly to see the damage as we approach.

"You're not fine, Lilly. You're just being stubborn – there's a bullet in your stomach!"

"Must have learned from the master then," Lilly quips, rolling her eyes, "You're as stubborn as a mule on a hot summer day."

"We'll just let Vernon take a look at you," he concludes, carefully rolling her shirt back down to cover her stomach. When he notices us, his face shows genuine relief. "Oh thank god you're alright… We didn't know what happened after the walkers started showing up."

My insides squeeze together when he brings that up, and I fail to maintain a neutral expression as they notice me. Kenny, Jane and Mike all appear to be relatively stable too, but Kenny's cheek is bruised badly and Jane's got a cut just above her brow line.

"They killed Roman…" Mike explains sadly, "Bastards clipped him, then hopped over the barricade and slit his throat. I killed the guy after, but…"

"How are things back in the bunker?" Lilly asks painfully, making a grunting noise as she looks over at us. I squeeze my eyes tightly to try and block the images from my mind. "Are the others safe inside? We haven't seen Vernon or…"

"Sarah's dead…" I murmur, so quietly that I don't think anyone can hear it. "Walkers broke in and killed her – a bunch of others are dead too…"

"Clem? Nobody can hear you," Kenny says, tilting his head slightly as everyone stares at me. I hate this attention. "Speak up, darlin'."

"The walkers… they got into the bunker," I explain, clutching my arm with regret, "They killed almost everyone, including… Sarah. It was all my fault…"

"Come on, Clem. You know that ain't true…" Luke tries to argue, but there's no denying it this time.

"If I hadn't said to use them to kill the soldiers, then she'd still be here! She was my responsibility, and I failed her."

"Clem, no offense or anything," Kenny interjects, "but you're, what? Twelve? You weren't responsible for her – trust me, it wasn't your fault."

"Well that's a hell of a thing to say! Sarah's _gone! _And you just brush it off like nothing even happened!" Luke yells, shocked that he could be so casual about this. "So now that your family's gone you just don't give a damn about anyone else?! Is that what's going on here?!"

As soon as Luke mentioned Kenny's family, I knew that he'd get a gun drawn on him. That much was expected. What I haven't noticed yet is what's _behind _the old fisherman – the young, blonde-haired bearded man with glasses from Nate and Tavia's camp just sitting there; tied up like an animal.

"Why's he there?" I ask, more so to Lilly because I'm not exactly talking to Lee right now, and Kenny's preoccupied with threatening Luke to pay me much mind.

Glancing behind her while still clutching her stomach, Lilly glares at the poor guy sneeringly. "He's the fucker that shot me," Lilly explains, "and he got caught trying to escape with the rest of his people, so we're going to use him as a bargaining chip. We give him back, they leave us alone."

"What's your name?" I ask quietly, going over to stand beside my two old guardians.

"Not that it'd matter much to you sick fucks," he hisses, glowering at me behind his glasses, "but it's Wyatt. And I was Eddie's best fucking friend, until this son of a bitch over here murdered him."

Realization hits me suddenly – I'm the only person from our group that knows about what happened at Nate's camp! Wyatt's just going to feed them lies about that day, even though _he himself _witnessed what Nate had made them do. There wasn't any alternative!

"No! He didn't – "

"It's… it's true. They made us fight at the camp, but… I and I alone killed Eddie. It was my fault," Lee admits, lowering his head in shame. You could cut through the tension with a knife right now, but suddenly it seems as though _once again _nobody trusts the professor. Once again, he's become the target – the scapegoat for all of their problems. It's much easier to blame someone else for their problems than to try and ratify them yourselves.

That seems to be happening quite a bit these days.

"Get out," Kenny murmurs lowly, no longer aiming the gun at Luke… but rather at Lee instead. He was probably waiting for a moment like this, where the tables have turned and Kenny no longer looks like the bad guy. As soon as Lee hears the click of the gun, their hatred of each other comes back in full force. "Get out _now_, or I'll drag your lifeless body out myself. I couldn't be more serious."

"You've got a lot of fucking nerve, Kenny."

"And you're dangerous," Luke says, causing me to widen my eyes at him. I can't believe what I'm hearing right now! Even Mike, Bonnie and Jane look as though they agree with them; begrudgingly so, but still! "We knew it the day that we saw you, Lee. I'm sorry, but you've become way too reckless. You _don't _have the group's best interests at heart, and it's obvious that you'd kill one of us if it meant saving your own skin."

"You're wrong!" I yell out, glaring at everyone besides Lilly as they continue to throw about accusations, "Lee's not a killer! He did it to protect me from those monsters!"

"Tell that to his ex-wife and the senator," Kenny spits harshly, not taking his aim off of Lee as he unlocks the weapon. "All in favour of kicking him out?"

Kenny, Luke, Bonnie, Mike and Jane…

"All against?"

Lilly and I… Even if Lee put his own hand up, it wouldn't have made a difference. If Sarah was still around, I'm sure that she would've taken my side. I'm almost one hundred percent positive.

"This is bullshit," Lilly protests, though not being able to move due to her injury, "If any of you were even _half _the man that Lee is, then you _might have _done the same thing! If you kick him out, then don't expect me to help you plan for the next attack! I'm done with this shit!"

"We can do it without you, Lilly! This ain't your own personal dictatorship!" Kenny bites back, though still not taking his eyes off of his enemy.

"Great… just fucking awesome. I try to help you shitheads with your problems, and suddenly I'm a god damned Nazi!"

"We're sorry it came to this, man," Mike apologizes, shaking his head regretfully, "But… that just crossed the line. Killing Eddie… there ain't no excuse for that shit. You've gotta go."

Lee doesn't seem to hear Mike though, as he's too focused on Kenny. He's probably thinking that the guy planned this thing from the start, and that he was just looking for an opening to get rid of him. This isn't fair! Life isn't fair!

"I hope you can live with yourself after this," Lee remarks lowly, grabbing his gear and turning slowly to leave… until his gaze fixes on me.

"Please…" I beg, real tears forming in my eyes at the thought of losing him again, "Don't go… You're my… family…"

"I'm so sorry, Clementine," Lee replies softly, bending down and embracing me in a one-armed hug, "But… it'd only cause problems if I stayed. I can't stand the thought of leaving without you, but you're safer here than out in the wilds with me – even if those assholes are still out there. You're strong, you're smart, and you're so brave. I know you can do this, sweet pea. As long as I know you're safe, I can keep going. We'll see each other again… I'm sure of it."

Funny… for a second it almost sounded as though my dad had once told me those exact same words. Almost as if it were in a dream…

With that, we break off the embrace, as Lee nods sorrowfully to Lilly one last time before making his way to the gate. I watch as he trudges along, not looking back as he opens the metal and steps out into the winter; getting lost from my vision by a thin blanket of snow.

I feel completely empty inside. There's nothing left – my heart's beating, but all the love and joy (or what was left of it anyways) has completely dissipated. All I feel now is grief, depression, and unrelenting anger. My soul has been shattered into a billion pieces, and has been replaced by a dismal, all-consuming black hole. I've got nothing left.

"I'm sorry, kiddo. But like I said before, Lee's not the same person you rem-"

"GO TO HELL!" I scream, smacking his hand away as he tries to place it on my shoulder. How dare he even make an _attempt _to comfort me now! It's his fault in the first place!

"Clem, listen to him. Lee _murdered _Eddie, and there wasn't any telling if he'd end up doing the same to someone else!" Bonnie chastises, not appreciating my behaviour. Yeah, you heard right! As if these people (if you can even call them that) think that I'm the unreasonable one here!

"You had no right to do this… absolutely none! You took my one piece of happiness and flushed it down the toilet!" I yell, clenching my fists tightly as I prepare to make my rant. "You wanna know what's funny about this? _I killed Carver and Troy! _Yeah! Me! I killed them out in the woods! Why do you think Tavia's group is after us in the first place?! So, if you tossed Lee out for something that _wasn't even his fault, _then you'd better throw me out too, right?!"

"What the fuck did you do, Clementine…" Kenny murmurs, widening his eyes in shock.

"Oh great, you're _disappointed _in me. Fantastic," I hiss out sarcastically, putting my hands on my hips. I'm in hysterics right now, but I want these people to feel as bad as possible. It's only fair. "As far as I'm concerned, you people are _dead _to me. Let them come and take over the whole camp if they want to! I don't even care anymore…"

Taking my hat and smacking it against my side angrily, I let out a frustrated groan and turn on my heel back the way I came – leaving everyone else in the dust behind me.

There's nothing left for me here… I might as well do as Jane had told me before: pack up and leave. But in all honesty, where would I even go? This is the only spot left that I know of, and I can't exactly just expect to live off the land in these conditions! With my prosthetic foot and young age, I'm not sure that I'd last a week out there by myself. _That's _why you never go out there alone.

But what's even the point anymore?

Without even realizing it, I've walked all the way back to the lake, absentmindedly telling Vernon that Lilly needs him as I walk past the bunker. The lake no longer has that beautiful majesty about it; no longer seems so pure and uncontaminated as the waves slowly crash onto the snow-covered shores. There's no longer that magical feeling I got when Kenny and I first paddled into it looking for fish. Instead, it's simply a big, lifeless bowl of water, with the body of one of my closest friends holding it for good measure.

The world didn't change; people still only give a shit about themselves. They'd rather throw one of their members out to die and take somebody for ransom than just band together and live peacefully. War… war never changes. People always want something to go wrong. One person's misery is another person's happiness.

I sit on the shoreline for a number of hours just thinking to myself; leaning against a fallen log and just thinking about what lead us to all of this.

So many things have gone wrong over the last two years… the motor-inn, the RV, Savannah, the road to North Carolina, getting lost from Lilly and Duck, the shed, Carver, losing dear friends… getting bit… this war and… losing Lee _again. _Why can't our lives just go back to the way they used to be? It's not as if any of this is enjoyable! Sure, I've met a lot of people that I'd have never known otherwise, but look where that's gotten me! Now I can't even stand the sight of them! Except for…

"Figured I'd find you out here," she remarks, taking a seat beside me as I continue to look at the body of Sarah, who's floated to shore a good ways away.

"I didn't mean it for you, Lilly," I acknowledge quietly, tightening the straps on my fake foot. "But you should be resting… not freezing to death out here."

"I'd say the same thing about you."

"You know I can't go back there."

"You were right about him, you know?" Lilly mentions, placing one arm over her knee as she skips a stone across the water expertly. "Sure, Lee might've had to adjust to some things out here, but who hasn't? We both know Lee – he would never had killed Eddie unless he had no other option."

"I watched the whole thing," I remind her, trembling as a breeze comes through, "Nate was crazy. He forced them to kill each other for entertainment, and told Lee that if they didn't cooperate, then his followers would kill the both of them and me, plus come and kill everybody here. Wyatt knows this…"

In hindsight, Wyatt was probably just upset that his friend was killed in such a horrific display, so I can't exactly blame him for what he told everyone else. But Lee… he didn't even try to defend himself. It's as if he believed it himself that he murdered Eddie in cold blood, and that Nate had nothing to do with it.

"I think we'll end up forgiving the rest of them for this."

"How can you even say that?!"

"They're not bad people, Clem," Lilly sighs, folding her arms over her chest but not before checking on her bandage. Vernon must've gotten to her pretty quickly. "Yeah, kicking Lee out was ridiculous and without thought, but… you've seen the good side to them, too. Kenny's a dick, for sure, and Luke's not much better, but they'll take care of you if you do the same for them. Lee and Kenny never got along at all, but Luke barely knew the guy, so he didn't get to witness what you and I did. Just give them some time, and I think they'll understand."

"It's gonna be a really long time, then."

"I don't doubt that."

Sighing, I carefully lean my head against Lilly's shoulder without causing her any discomfort. This feels almost exactly the same as back then with Duck… déjà vu can cause weird things to happen.

"I'm just tired of losing people…" I comment quietly, frowning as my gaze lands on Sarah again.

"Me too, Clem. Me too."


	13. Blackjack

_AN: Hahahahahahahahahaha! I've created an army of Kenny haters! Come! Let us curse his name and be complete dicks to him in all of our Walking Dead playthroughs!_

…_Naw, go ahead and like him if you want. And omgdghsgfjfn 100 reviews?! Holy moley! Thank you so much you guys, I've never hit three digits before! That's insane! _

_**One last thing: I'm going to be on vacation for a week and won't be able to access the internet, so this is going to be the last chapter for a while. Sorry!**_

Walking down the pathways of the camp to clear my head (as was Lilly's suggestion), I watch as people go through the charred remains of their homes; searching for anything that could possibly be salvageable. Cookware, clothes, old knickknacks from the seventies… it doesn't matter what they find; just that it means something to them.

I casually put my hands in my pockets as I walk by browsing their stuff as if I'm going shopping. I see a mixture of sad faces, along with disgruntled and hopeless ones. Can't say that I blame them for feeling that way – after all, they haven't had to deal with this kind of situation since all of this first started. And now, to just suddenly have all of your stuff torn apart or burned… it'd be devastating.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see the sun reflecting off of a plastic CD case – almost completely unscratched, save for a few on the case itself. Nobody seems to be around, and I wouldn't want it to get trampled on, so I bend down carefully and examine it.

The writing on it floods back some memories that are kind of painful to reminisce. Nick Cave's "O' Children" – the same music Sarah and I heard on the way to the park that one day. I can't ever escape this, can I?

"You like that one, eh?" an older woman suddenly asks, coming out from behind one of her boxes. How I hadn't seen her is beyond me.

"My mom used to play it for me when I was little," I explain, smiling sadly as I turn it over in my hands. I then hold it out to return it to her. "Sorry, I'm guessing you're going to put this with your other stuff. Here."

"Keep it," she waves off, putting some of her other items neatly into a box.

"Umm… are you sure? I mean, it's yours."

"I must have listened to that song about a thousand times already," she says with a small smile and a shake of her head. "Besides – you, my dear, look like you could use a little light in your life. A pretty young thing like you shouldn't have to bear the weight of the world all by yourself."

Quickly muttering a thank you, I peel away from her and widen my eyes in surprise; listening as she softly chuckles behind my back.

"_Such a shame… growing up in a world like this…" _she whispers, making me wish that I could just hide from everything. If some lady that I've never met in my life can read me like an open book, then what does that say about people I _do _know?

And what she said… am I really biting off more than I can chew?

…..

"Clem, please talk to me…"

Rolling my eyes and grunting, I try brushing past the imposing form of Luke, who's standing there looking really ashamed and stupid – as he should be, along with all the rest of them who contributed to Lee being gone. Remorse is great and all, but it doesn't change a damn thing.

It certainly doesn't bring Lee back.

"Look, I know you're pissed off at me," he sighs while (of course) running his hand through his hair, "But… there's gotta be something I can do to make it up to you! Anything!"

"You do realize that Nate forced Eddie and Lee to kill each other, right? So you calling Lee "dangerous" means that Eddie was the same way. I should've figured you'd agree with everyone else, seeing as what you were telling me a few nights ago. And it's too late for you to do anything! You kicked out one of my closest friends! We're done, Luke!"

Preparing to storm away, I take a few steps before groaning and remembering what Lilly had told me earlier. I know they're not the worst people in the world, but there was still no excuse for what they did. Luke's the only person I've talked to about this so far, since there's no way that I'm going near Kenny any time soon.

"Why did you do it, anyway?" I ask, putting the CD away in my pocket. I've got some big pockets for that kind of thing. "You all knew what Lee meant to me, but you let him out to die anyway."

"I was planning on doing it to Kenny as well… I already told you, Clementine: they're dangerous! The more you stick around them, the easier it is for you to get hurt! You saw how fast they turned on each other! What if that were to happen to you?"

"It's still not your call."

"I made a choice, and I'm living with the consequences – same goes for Lee," he justifies himself, folding his arms across his chest. "I'll admit: I've fucked up before in my life. I ain't too proud to admit that. But that don't apply here. I only agreed so that Kenny and Lee wouldn't kill each other!"

Well, that's a little surprising… and difficult to believe.

"You told me earlier that Lee was some kind of monster," I point out accusingly, "So don't tell me that you didn't want this to happen! You all hated Lee just because he was willing to do what you couldn't do! You still can't!"

"Now hold on just a minute – "

"_WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S GONE?!"_

Quickly dropping our conversation, the two of us head over to where Kenny, Mike, Jane, Bonnie and Lilly are; with Lilly practically screaming at Kenny. Great, what else is new?

"Calm down, would ya?!" Kenny argues back, pacing to and fro, "It wasn't my fault! The fucker must've slipped out when we weren't looking! Don't go all bat-shit crazy on me now! We can do this without him!"

"Wyatt was our last shot! Don't you get that?!" Lilly yells, her face boiling with rage and frustration, "How the hell are we supposed to make peace with these people without him?! It was supposed to be a trade! We'd give them Wyatt, and in exchange they'd leave us alone!"

"That was kind of a long-shot, no offense or anything," Jane pitches in, shrugging her shoulders as Lilly glares at her. "Well, you've seen these guys. They're unpredictable and would sooner stab you in the back than go with their word. They'd probably wait a couple of days for us to let our guard down, and then they'd come rolling over this place."

Even though I'm not on the best terms with her (or anyone right now), Jane does make a good point. Nate the Snake; that's what I've been referring to him as lately. He and Tavia fit together pretty well, I'd say.

"So what now? Where do we go from here?" Bonnie asks, giving an apologetic frown as she looks at me.

Rubbing the bridge of her nose with her index finger and her thumb, Lilly audibly sighs as the rest of them (including Kenny) wait in anticipation. Knowing him, he'll probably disagree with whatever she has to say.

"Not that I'm the one who's calling the shots for you guys anymore," Lilly says more calmly, "But I vote that we hold down our guns and try to make peace in a different way. We try to reach a deal, and if that doesn't work then… I don't know."

"Sounds to me like you're saying we should surrender," Kenny quips, scoffing at the very idea.

Rolling her eyes, Lilly's glare then turns towards the aging man. "If you're so smart, then what do you think we should do?"

"Fight back and don't let them flatten us into the snow!" Kenny suggests as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. "They're weaker right now! If we hit them with their knickers down, then we should be able to beat them practically into submission! And if worse comes to worse, then we make our fucking stand right here! We'll be better prepared next time!" 

"Look around you, man. We ain't exactly strong here, either. They killed at least half the people in the camp, and most of those were people who can fight," Mike says, gesturing to the burned-out tents.

"All I'm saying is that if we strike fast and hard, then there's a _chance _that we can end this thing once and for all!"

"That doesn't bring back the people we've lost…" I mention, getting a nod from Luke. If he's just trying to butter me up, then it's going to take a lot more than that.

"She's right," Luke agrees enthusiastically, probably thinking I'm like every other twelve year old girl he's ever known. Grow up, Luke! "I vote that we stay here. There's no need for any more bloodshed; we've lost too many people to this thing already. We should stay here, try our best to rebuild and salvage what we can, and wait this thing out. All in favour?"

Everyone except for Kenny, who just rolls his eyes and mutters something about Nate shoving our peace treaty up his ass. Gross.

I hope he's wrong about that…

_Lee's POV_

Well, this is familiar.

Out in the cold, freezing my ass off, and alone. The sad thing about this is that I'm practically accustomed to this sort of thing by now; what with Molly dying a year ago while I made my way north.

The only difference this time is that those bastards kicked me out.

"FUCK!" I yell out of frustration, kicking over a pile of snow as I adjust the straps of my backpack. Personally, I feel that I deserved to be tossed out like a wad of scrunched-up paper, but that doesn't make it any less painful.

Oh Clem… I've been gone for maybe two hours, and I'm already starting to miss you, sweet pea. At least I know you're safe with Lilly still around, but… god, what am I without her? An empty shell of a man, that's what.

Subconsciously, I must have stumbled upon the remnants of Nate's camp, as I see the familiar valley with all of the crates and auto parts scattered about. What's different about it this time is… all the bodies lying around. There are rotting, decaying corpses just sitting there; unmoved and unburned. How can people possibly live in these conditions?

This place is literally like a concentration camp. (_AN: I don't want anyone to be offended by this, so I'm very sorry if I have in any way.)_

Hmm… I've got an idea about this place though. Obviously I won't try and kill every fucker in here, as that would just be suicide. But maybe I can try to ease the hostilities. If it means keeping Clem away from danger, then you'd better believe that I'll do it.

Treading carefully down the hill as to not slip, I make my way through this graveyard of dead bodies. I won't lie – this is really freaking me out.

The stench of death runs through my nose and practically makes me gag when I first encounter it. There's dried blood splattered about the ground and on people's clothes, while I see skin starting to peel off of dead limbs and faces. Luckily the flies aren't out yet since it's the middle of winter, but that doesn't do anything to make this scene look less terrifying. There aren't any groans present, so they at least did these people the courtesy of shooting them in the head before they came back to life.

As soon as Hank sees me approach the crates, I immediately put my hand up in surrender as he aims his weapon towards me.

"I come in peace," I state loudly as the rest of their camp slowly make their way over to see what's going on. Geez, I sound like E.T. right now. "Where's your leader? I just want to talk to him… help to sort some things out."

"You've had your say! We should just shoot you and be done with it!" one of the assholes yell, brandishing a pistol and aiming it directly at me… as does everyone else. All of their weapons are pointed at me threateningly – I've just walked straight into the lion's den.

"I've been banished from Wellington!" I explain, examining the faces of those around me. I'm playing with fire at this point. "We've all got friends and loved ones that we want to keep safe! What good is there in continuing this pointless war? All it's going to do is add to the body count! Let me talk to Nate! The least you can do is to hear me out!"

"Lower your weapons," Tavia orders, to which everyone reluctantly obliges. A wave of relief washes over me, but it's only temporary. "Follow me, and I'll take you to him. Don't try anything."

"Trust me," I reply, making a stiff exit with the bushy-haired commander, "I wouldn't be coming out of this alive otherwise."

Following her lead, we make our way up the stairs and past prying eyes – all giving me death glares and just waiting to get their hands around my neck.

Making a few more twists and turns, she finally opens a door to one of the maintenance areas for motor vehicles… and sitting there is the one man who more than anything I wish would just kick over and die. Fucking Nate…

"Empty out your pockets – your stuff goes over on the work table," Tavia instructs coldly as I pull out my pistol, my torn-up photo of my family and a leaf drawing that Clem gave to me two years ago. I never go anywhere without it.

"You guys brought a guest!" Nate acknowledges, tipping his hat to me in a welcoming gesture.

"Lee says that he wants to discuss terms… and that his group kicked him out," Tavia explains; her face giving away nothing as she talks. "Nate, if I hear any shit coming from here, then I'm marching in with my gun out. Understand?"

"Yes dear," Nate agrees sarcastically, pushing out a folding chair for me to sit on. With that, Tavia grunts and makes her exit, leaving the two of us alone. Let's see who breaks first. "So what's all this nonsense about a peace treaty? We should hurry this up – I've got a golf game at five."

"You're gonna fucking listen to me," I snarl, glaring at him straight in the eye. "No more funny business or any bullshit, got it? This is serious. Nobody else needs to die."

Nodding his head with an impressed look on his face, Nate motions for me to continue. I swear, I've never met a more psychotic individual in my life.

"If you leave them alone," I begin, taking in a deep breath and closing my eyes for a moment, "You… can have my life. You can kill me, or make me work for you – whatever. That's what you wanted, wasn't it? You told me that you wanted me dead because of what I did to your friend."

"You're just full of surprises today, Mr. Everett," Nate comments, chuckling slightly as he shakes his head. "But do you honestly think I gave a flying fuck about that kid? Seriously? No! We've got _five_ of those people downstairs who could've done his job cleaner than him! Before all this shit went down, he was a damn _fry cook! _Got paid minimum wage, and he still managed to kill Arvo for us."

"Then why…"

"Because I needed to get rid of Eddie! That's why!" he explains, cracking his knuckles as he leans back in his chair, "I could tell that you were a survival type of guy when I saw you – Eddie was a punk-ass bitch who smoked weed all day. So, when I needed him taken care of, I figured that I'd just let you do it for me instead. Worked out pretty nicely too, didn't it?"

"You fucker…" I growl, getting ready to pull a pistol out on him – at least until I realized what that would do. "What the hell do you want then? For peace, I mean."

"It's… not really what I want. More like what Tavia and her crew want."

"Which is?" I ask, growing impatient with his stalling.

Leaning forward and folding his hands over the table, Nate glowers at me before answering.

"They want the fucker that killed their old leader… Carver, I think it was? That's the only way they'll even consider it."

Absolutely not. Never in a hundred years would I sell out Clementine to these bastards. They'll have to take her over my rotting corpse. I _would _sell out Kenny, but I don't think I could live with that on my conscience… even though I'm still shocked as to how Kenny can still live with himself over the things he's done…

Of course, I could just play the dumb card here.

"Afraid that I don't know who you're talking about," I tell him, folding my arms across my chest defiantly.

"Is that right?"

"Yes."

"Well then," he gloats, brandishing a smirk that makes my blood run cold. "I suppose I can just ask my old pal Wyatt then, eh? I'm sure he'd be more than willing to tell us."

He must notice my paling complexion, because it only makes his grin even more evil and sadistic.

"Yeah! We heard all about how you guys locked him up and were holding him for ransom! Now, I'm not much of a strategist, but that kind of defeats the whole diplomacy thing now, don't ya think?"

"Leave them be," I warn shakily, "Just don't hurt…"

"The little girl you were with?"

"I'll kill you if you go near her… I swear to motherfucking Christ I will…"

"Well, that's a mighty big threat coming from you, sonny boy," he chuckles mirthlessly, clearing his throat as I stand up to leave. "Where do you think you're going, tiger?"

"Leaving."

"Yeah, about that… Here's the thing: if you leave now, I can't guarantee your safety when you walk out that door. Everyone outside right now wants your blood, you see. So… I propose something – a little game of cards, if you will."

I was right all along! This fucker does think this whole thing is some sort of sick, twisted game we're playing!

But if I don't cooperate, then…

"What is it?" I hiss, sitting back down as he pulls out a deck of cards and starts shuffling them like a seasoned pro.

"The name of the game is Blackjack, my friend. Or also referred to as Twenty-One. Either way, it's a barrel of fun!" he jeers, handing out some cards as he finishes shuffling the deck. "Here's what we're gonna do: I'm going to place my revolver on the table here, like so."

For added effect, he displays it with his hands like a piece of merchandise he's selling. This is fucking nuts.

"If I win, I'll do as you had suggested: kill you or make you join our crew. And if you win," he smiles, placing his cards on the table, "You can either kill me or walk away scott-free. Tavia will escort you out, and you'll be on your merry way. You have my word."

"Your word doesn't mean shit to me."

"Well, for now you're just going to have to trust me, won't you? The ball's in your hands now, Lee. Are you gonna play? Or is this the last conversation you're ever going to have?"

Clenching my teeth, I reluctantly oblige as the game begins.

…..

About ten minutes have passed, and the game's nearing its conclusion, but I'm not sweating buckets in my seat. I don't fear death – if it comes for me, then so be it. I'll be ready for whatever comes my way.

"I should've brought out some chips or something! I'd forgotten how much fun the casino was!" Nate jokes, smirking as he looks through his remaining cards. "Well, Lee my friend, I'm afraid it's time for – "

"Blackjack."

Laying my cards upon the table, Nate nods and concedes defeat. I don't smirk in victory or internally cheer. I've got some options to figure out right now.

"Seems that way," Nate says, picking the cards up and putting them into the little box that they came in. "There's one small thing that I forgot to mention though… I'm pretty sure you'd be aware that killing me would send the entire camp after you, right? And there's really only a couple of exits for you – the way you came, and the back side behind me a little ways. But if you want the revenge, then I'd say to go for it."

What is this shit?! Why would he tempt the bull – especially when the bull is holding his life in its hands?

Of course…

Nate knows that if I kill him, then Tavia will simply take his place. Either way, their camp goes to Wellington and then… who knows what'll happen next.

Grasping the handle of Nate's revolver, I unlock the safety on the thing and aim it straight at Nate's forehead. This would be so easy to just end him now and ease the pain of all we've lost from this madman.

"I should fucking kill you right now…" I snarl, glaring at him intensely.

"Clock's ticking, Everett," Nate replies casually, "Make your choice. What's it gonna be?"


	14. With an iron fist

"Clem, can you come help me lift this for a second?" Kenny asks, grunting as he holds a wooden beam up with a whole lot of force.

Not too sure why I should help him with anything, to be honest… but it's not like I've got anything better to do right now.

Leaning underneath the other side of the wooden construct, I put my back into it and try to lift my side up; but still need Mike to come over and help out a little bit. Together, we lift the support beam off of mine and Sarah's tent (or what's left of it) and toss it into the snow. Here comes the fun part: looking for anything of my old stuff that's still sticking around.

The first thing I notice is my backpack; singed by flames for the most part, but at least some of the contents are still intact. I didn't have a lot of stuff in here to begin with, but at least some of the important things are still here. Knowing full well that Kenny's standing behind me and watching, I wordlessly pull out one of Duck's old comics and examine it. Shuddering slightly, Kenny bends down beside me as I hand it to him like an ancient artifact. This must be pretty hard for him as he flips through the pages, so I leave him be while I go through some more of my things.

The zippo lighter is still here, whatever help this might be. The lighter fluid ran out of this thing a while ago.

A couple of chalk drawings that I made when I was younger… this particular one had Ben, Duck, Carley and Lee all holding hands underneath some trees with big, smiling faces. Glancing down at it makes me smile sadly. You know, just once I'd like to try and make one of these again – just put my colours to the paper and draw whatever it is that comes to my mind. If I'd have to take a guess, I'd say that I'd probably draw my family first – Mom, Dad and me. Next would probably be Lee, Lilly and I. And, if I'm feeling generous and/or have forgiven them, then _maybe _I'll draw the rest of these miserable pricks. They'd really have to make it up to me somehow.

"Duck was talking about you… when we were at that museum," Kenny remarks quietly, stopping at a page with Batman and the Joker. Duck really loved this comic. "He was saying all about how you helped him get through those two years, especially when he was thinking about Kat and I. Said that if it weren't for you, then he probably wouldn't have made it as far as he had. Duck pretty much considered you as his best friend."

Heh, yeah that sounds about right. There were several occasions where we would try goofing off and having fun while Lilly was away or wasn't looking. I really, really enjoyed those carefree times we'd share.

_Flashback…_

"_Is she gone yet?" I ask, crouching down near Duck as he basks in the afternoon sun. _

"_Who cares if she is," Duck replies, stretching his arms behind his head as he yawns tiredly. "I'm tired… go bug somebody else."_

"_Seriously, Duck? It's the middle of the afternoon!" I complain, nudging him with my foot impatiently. "Come on, you lazy lump! We've got some frogs to catch!"_

_Sighing heavily, Duck rolls his eyes and bats my hand away; groaning like the moody teenager that he is. Huffing and placing my hands on my hips, I sneak up beside him and not so discreetly start rolling him over like a log – with Duck swearing as I keep on going._

"_It's for your own good!" I tell him, giggling as he gives me the finger. Swears or swearing gestures don't even really faze me anymore. _

_We left Savannah a… long time ago. Honestly I don't even know how long it's been, just that Duck and I have both gotten a bit taller, while Lilly's become more and more isolated. We never seem to stay in one place for long, so it's hard for us to just enjoy ourselves and be kids._

_Which is why I really need Duck to quit being such a little crybaby and come with me._

_Thankfully Duck relents and stands up of his own free will (which is good because my arms feel like they're about to fall off), and we come to the place that I wanted to show him – this great big, open marsh with all manner of wildlife. There are dragonflies, crickets, really tiny fish, a whole whack of birds, and frogs. Slimy, small, slippery little devils that I'm almost certain Duck will have a field day with._

"_What'd I tell you?" I say to him, smirking as I take his hand and lead him around the bulrushes that infest the place. We won't be able to go deep into the bog without getting our clothes wet, so we try our best to stay on dry land. Mud still clings to the bottom of our shoes and jeans though. _

"_Don't we need nets or something?" he asks, looking behind to check for any walkers._

"_We don't have any!" I reply, letting go of his hand and motioning for him to creep down beside me. "There's a whole family of them over there… If we're careful, we might be able to catch them before they see us. Ready?"_

_Nodding eagerly, the excitement building in his goofy little grin as he slowly starts to enjoy himself, Duck rushes forward without telling me and tries to desperately catch one. Most of them are scared as he approaches, and the two of us laugh as we run around like a couple of morons._

"_You were supposed to WAIT!"_

"_You were going too slow!" he laughs while sticking his tongue out at me, before tripping and falling face-first into the mud. "Ugh… I think there's a worm stuck up my nose…"_

_Giggling hysterically, I sit down and ignore the fact that all of the frogs have now escaped. The point is that the both of us are having some fun for a change. So instead of arguing with Duck, I jump into the mud beside him and explore the area for a few more minutes._

_I doubt very much that Lilly's going to be too thrilled with us when we get back._

Oh man, you should've seen her reaction when we returned that day – covered in mud from head to toe. Needless to say she wasn't happy, and we had to spend the next few weeks preparing the meals and cleaning up the campsites (wherever they were that day).

Still, even though Lilly repeatedly told us how irresponsible we were being for not telling her where we were going prior to leaving, I wouldn't have given up that experience for the world.

"He was a great kid, Kenny," I tell him, nodding slowly as dries his eyes a little bit. "Can't imagine what losing someone that important to you'd be like…"

"Clem," he sighs, watching as I examine the torn-up photo of Lee that I've kept close to me ever since I took it from his dresser back at the motor-inn. When he mentioned that his family photo had been torn in half, I told him that I needed to keep him close. I was young. "…I've got nothing. There's nothing really here to say that'll change your mind about hating me, and I understand completely."

"I don't hate you…" I mutter, verbally huffing as I fold up my drawings and place the photo all in my pockets. "But you really crossed the line, Kenny. Yeah, I get that you guys didn't get along and all but… I was thinking about leaving with him. If Lee hadn't told me to stay here, then I'd be out with him right now."

"…for real?"

"For real."

"Jesus," he breathes out, holding up a piece of burned tent so that I can look underneath. "Well, I won't say that I did the wrong thing – since I still don't trust the bastard, and probably never would've anyway. But… for what it's worth, I'm glad you're still around, Clementine. Duck was lucky to have a friend like you."

Not saying anything for the moment, I see Sarah's old jacket sleeve hanging out from underneath her burned-out bed, so I lift it up and dust off the ashes as a folded up piece of paper comes tumbling out. Picking it up, I bring it over to Kenny and begin to read aloud.

It says:

_Dear Dad,_

_A lot's been going on since I last talked to you at the museum! We left it behind and went up north to Michigan, and now we're staying at some camp called Wellington. It's really pretty here with the lake, trees and everything, but I still like our house better. Could we please go back there some time? You told me that Mom is still trapped inside there, so don't you think it's about time that we get her out? She's probably been trying to get back to us for ages!_

_Some of the people I'm here with are scary! Lilly and Kenny yell all the time, and Luke doesn't seem to get along with them either. And this new guy came in a couple of days ago – his name's Lee, and he seems… nice, I guess. Clementine's really good friends with him though, so he must not be too bad. I'm not sure how you'd feel about him, Daddy. Lee's only got one arm, which is pretty scary, but he says it doesn't hurt at all, so that's good. Maybe when you get here, you can help him out! _

_Oh! I almost forgot! Clementine taught me how to shoot a gun! I know you told me not to go near them, since they're dangerous and all, but Clem said that I needed it for protection. I'm guessing it's for the sick people that you've been talking about, but… what if they can be cured? Wouldn't that just be, like, killing someone? I felt kind of bad when I shot my first one, but not nearly as bad as when we went through that tunnel…_

_It was all my fault… Clementine shouldn't have had to get her foot taken away! It was soooo gross, but Kenny kept saying how it was "necessary" or something like that. I bet if you were here, Daddy, then you would've been able to do something. Now Clementine has to use crutches, and it looks really hard to move around. Maybe I can make it up to her by showing her this really cool place I found… hopefully she doesn't think it's too dumb or anything._

_Last thing though – I promise! I think that Clementine's become my best friend! Seriously! She's totally the best, ever! We're a team, and a team always looks after one another, right? Maybe when all of those sick people get better, we can play on like the same soccer team or something. That would be so cool! I just hope her parents let her… _(She scribbled this part out messily, which causes my breath to slightly hitch in my throat as I think about my parents again).

_Sorry about that, I forgot about what she told me before… That's so horrible… At least you and Mom are still around, Dad! I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have you guys still with me._

_Anyways, that's all I wanted to say. I'm going to try putting this in a bottle and sending it down the lake or something – you might not get it, but I hope you do! I miss you lots, Dad! Please come see me again soon…_

"Love you tons, from Sarah…" I finish, dropping the letter uselessly and burying my face in my hands as Kenny goes over it a second time. Unbelievable… to think that I had no idea of the delusion she'd set herself up in…

"Holy shit," Kenny murmurs, shaking his head in disbelief. "Jesus… you weren't kidding about her. Did you know this was going on?"

"Not a clue…" I admit sadly, wrapping her jacket around me tightly as Kenny sits down beside me. "I should've clued in… Sarah kept telling me that she'd see her dad right beside me while we were talking, but I had no idea that it was this bad."

"There wasn't really anything you could do, Clem. It's not as if we had a psychologist on site."

"I was a pretty crappy friend, then," I shudder as Kenny wraps an arm around me. The only reason that I don't tell him to take a hike is because I could actually _understand _why Kenny wanted Lee gone. Luke and everyone else were just a mystery. "I pushed her too hard with the whole shooting thing – I just thought that maybe it'd save her life… But then those walkers came in, and that was it."

"This world ain't for everyone, darlin'," Kenny reassures, patting my back comfortingly, "And you did all that you could. So don't go blamin' yourself, alright? Sarah and Duck wouldn't have made it as far as they had without you… You're a great kid, Clementine."

"That's what you always say," I point out, getting a small chuckle out of the older man. I haven't noticed this before, but Kenny just looks… tired. Lee's the same way. "When's the last time you've slept?"

"Oh, about two years ago. I'm fine, kiddo."

"Bullshit."

"When did you start swearing?" Kenny asks, shocked at how abrasive my vocabulary has become recently.

"About two years ago."

"Ha ha! And she's got wits now, too!" Kenny laughs, but his face turns serious a moment later as he looks down at my leg. That's what everyone first notices about me these days. "How's that thing holding up, anyways?"

"It works fine, if that's what you're asking," I reply quietly, moving it around a little bit, "Sarah and I were pretending that I was a pirate just the other day… It was just stupid kid's stuff."

"Hell, just because this is the apocalypse it doesn't mean that you shouldn't get the chance to have a childhood. Enjoy your youth while it lasts," he remarks, offering me a hand as we stand up. "And between your leg and my eye, we'd be the most bad ass pirates around."

…

"_HONEY, I'M HOME!" _Nate bellows as he and his goons bust through the front gate on some ATVs and a few motorcycles, most likely obtained from that motor shop they were holed up in. They're fewer in number this time around, but so are we… and we're unprepared for such an entrance.

Some of the residents haven't even finished burying their dead yet.

Mike's up near the main gate along with Jane and Bonnie – all holding their guns at some of the people from their crew, though they're clearly at a disadvantage. Firing now would just be suicide. Luke (along with about ten other men and women) are all that stand between them and the rest of the camp… or rather what's left of it. Seriously, why are they still coming at us? What could they possibly be after?

Lilly, Kenny and I are up on the observation deck, and thankfully we're not visible to any of these chumps. Kenny doesn't have his rifle with him, so he's only got a pistol (as do I). But Lilly does. She must've expected something like this to happen.

"Howdy, folks!" Nate introduces again, chuckling at the scene going on in front of him. "Man… what a show we've got going on here, eh Tavia? You, my lovely lady, sure do know how to make an entrance!"

"We're not here to dick around, Nate," Tavia reminds him, glaring at Luke as he raises his machine gun straight towards her. Luke's probably been waiting for this for a while.

"Right you are, as always," Nate chimes, before addressing the rest of us. This guy must've been a hit at parties… if they involved lots of drinking. "So, we've bothered you this evening because guess what? We're looking to make terms! That's right! This fucking peace treaty that you've all been waiting for, and it can all be yours for just $19.99!"

"Then why'd you bring all of your guns with you?!" Luke asks harshly, not tearing his eyes away from Tavia's position.

"'Cause they're a bunch of dickheads, that's why," Kenny says; quiet enough that only Lilly and I can hear.

"They're not getting out of here alive… There's no way that they're coming here peacefully," Lilly shakes her head, her grip on the rifle tightening as she whistles for Vernon to get down. "Both of you get your guns ready. This – "

"You guys are tough as nails, we've recognized that. We've seen it – you people should be proud of what you've accomplished. So we've only got one demand!" Nate booms, running his hand over his balding head as he speaks. "I understand that a certain leader of Tavia's group beforehand – Carver – was murdered in cold blood. Butchered like an animal along with his shithead of a partner, Troy. They found the corpses while out on a scavenging trip."

Oh god…

"So here's our deal," Nate continues, "Our sources have confirmed that the killer rests among your group. In fact, it was one of your own that gave us the information! You might know of a certain… Lee Everett?"

"No he didn't…" I whisper, shaking my head and not believing it for a second. "Lee would never have done something like that, not even after he got kicked out. I know him."

"Sceptical, are we?" Nate questions, making me think for a second that he was talking directly to me. "Well, unfortunately for you guys, Lee's dead! He's not coming back… and the way I heard it, that's the way you fuckers wanted it to happen anyways! Here's some of his shit we confiscated to prove that we're serious!"

Squinting to see what he's doing, Lilly has to put a hand over my mouth to prevent me from crying out in anguish. Thrown to the ground… are his picture of his family, and that stupid leaf drawing that I gave him back at the motor-inn… He's really gone…

In a span of about five minutes, this man has shaken up my world and destroyed my hope. My body is numb with grief… Is Lee really dead?

"So tell me," he rants, smirking like a maniac as he takes a lighter and burns Lee's things, "Where is that murderous little fuck? Where's Clementine?"

Kenny and Lilly have to physically restrain me where I am, as I struggle to break free of their grasp.

"Let me go down there NOW!"

"Absolutely not!" Kenny argues, spinning me around to face him. "Listen to me, Clementine… You cannot under any circumstances give yourself up, understand? We won't have any of it."

"It's not your decision… I won't let people die for me! Nobody else needs to die!" I tell the both of them, shaking my head as my breathing speeds up. Everything's going so fast right now. "If they want me, then let them take me. I won't let Lee to have died for nothing…"

"You're staying here, period," Kenny finishes, allowing no room for me to retort. He's one of the most stubborn men I've ever met. "And if shit hits the fan, which it almost always does, then you take one of those canoes and get as far away from this place as possible, alright? I'm not fucking up again!"

"He's right, Clem," Lilly says, still grasping on one of my arms. "Just… leave your canoe on the side of the bank somewhere. We'll find it, no matter what happens. Just get yourself to safety."

"You guys aren't my parents! You don't get to make these choices for me!"

With one last sad smile, Kenny places a firm hand upon my shoulder and squeezes slightly.

"We know, Clem. But we're not about to let you get killed by these monsters," he explains, nodding towards me. "When all this is over, we'll find each other again. We'll live together in peace… like a real family."

As he descends the staircase quickly and Lilly and I watch him walk towards everyone, I can't shake off this nagging feeling.

Why does it seem like that would be my last conversation with him?

"Ahh, I remember you! Come to deliver our prize, have you?" Nate grins as the rest of his group chuckle slightly. Lilly's got her arm wrapped around my shoulders, and I watch as Kenny carefully moves forward. Shit's about to go down.

"You're not taking her…"

"Soft spot, huh? Figured as much."

Instantly, everybody's weapons raise up, though thankfully no bullets have flown out yet. You could probably hear a pin drop over how quiet it is right now…

"Looks like we've got a good old Mexican Standoff! I love it! Western movies were so full of action and gun slinging!" Nate yells, holding his aim on Kenny. "But I think it's time for this whole thing to wrap up, don't you? This would be sooooo much simpler for you folks if you just handed the kid to us."

"Over my dead body…" Kenny snarls, his grip tightening on his pistol.

"Clementine belongs with us…" Luke remarks, locking and loading his weapon.

"The kid's not going anywhere…" Jane.

"We're not letting you go anywhere with Clementine…" Bonnie.

"If you want her, you're going to have to get through us first…" Mike.

These people… even though I was incredibly angry at them for what they did to Lee, I can't bring myself to hate them. Not when they stand up for me like this. My friends… Kenny, Lilly, Luke, Jane, Bonnie and Mike… they're all willing to put their lives on the line for me. I've never felt more proud to be with these people. They're not perfect, and I can't forgive them for what happened to Lee (though I secretly still can't believe it), but they're family. And families stick together no matter what.

Narrowing his gaze, I can barely make out what he says next, but it's fairly obvious that he's done playing his games. No more jokes… no more grandstanding… The battle's back on.

"That can be arranged…" Nate says calmly, raising up the barrel of his gun…

…and shooting it right at Kenny's chest.

_AN: AWWWWW SHIT, SON! I'm back, guys! Thanks for all the positive feedback/support for this thing, and thanks for being so patient! Vacation was sweet – we went sea dooing, golfing and all this other fun stuff. But I'm back, and I've finally figured out how this thing's going to go! _

_Hope you enjoyed this chapter, so please review! It means the world to me!_


	15. We all fall down

"_NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"_

My scream is muffled out by the roar of gunfire and bloody screams of agony ripping across the camp, as everything happens in a blur. Kenny manages to take out Becca with a headshot before collapsing onto the snow; with the young girl's head ricocheting back as her sister, Shel, is shot dead by Bonnie. The redhead looks really saddened by the act that she just committed – perhaps the two of them knew each other in the past.

Luke puts about six bullets into Tavia – all direct hits. She dies almost instantly as he quickly hides behind one of the fallen totem poles to reload, though somebody's bullet grazed him on the left arm as he winces in pain. Blood pours out of Tavia's eye sockets as Nate turns away, disgusted. It seems that he truly is the supreme ruler of these assholes now… however many will be left after all of this is said and done. At least Tavia's out of commission now, though – she seemed to be the smarter one of the two.

With nowhere really to hide, Mike tries his best and fights valiantly; killing off at least two people and freeing up one of the ATVs. But even he can't fight them all off by himself. Vince guns him down with a few bullets to the chest, and he too collapses in a dying heap – his eyes growing dim as Jane cries out bloody murder. She slaughters Vince with an array of bullets, and then takes out a few more people… before Wyatt sneaks behind her and snuffs her life out with a knife in the back. Quick, silent and efficient. Jane writhes around in agony as Wyatt pulls the bloody knife out of her back and turns tail.

I can't tear my eyes away from Kenny; even as Lilly starts to drag me away with her down the steps of the observation deck. He's not moving! You can see the bullet wound he sustained moments ago, as blood stains his green-coloured jacket that I've grown so accustomed to. I can't see his face, but I'm sure that it's contorted into a mix of pain, shock and anger. Kenny's probably pissed that Nate got the first blow.

Speaking of which…

That little shit has cowardly taken cover with Hank while the rest of his soldiers are continuing to fight. He's hiding outside the main gate, reloading his weapon as his army crumbles around him.

"THAT BASTARD!" I yell out barbarically, swinging my arms around and wanting nothing more than to snap his neck clean in half.

"There's nothing you can do!" Lilly retorts, grasping onto my arm with an iron grip. "The camp's lost, Clem! You need to get out of here!"

"NO!" I scream, trying to kick my feet into the dirt like a two year old to prevent Lilly from dragging me further. "I need to stop this…"

"If you give yourself up now, then they'll have all died for nothing! Do you really want that?!" Lilly yells, shaking my shoulders roughly as we come over to a pair of canoes that we used as a barricade. What she's saying shakes me up a little bit, and tears fall down my face as the realization kicks in. That wasn't just an illusion – they really killed Jane, Mike and…

"K-Kenny…"

"Shh… I know, I know. But you've got to be strong, alright?" Lilly soothes, rubbing her hand in my hair while all of the chaos ensues. "I need you to be strong! Think of something else – something hopeful!"

"There's nothing left to hope for!" I yell, my hands balling into tight fists. "Everyone's _gone! _My parents, Lee, Duck, Sarah, Kenny… maybe even _you! _I… I can't do this anymore…"

"…hope for life. Hope that somehow, we'll make it through this and live to see another day."

"_BONNIE! NOOOOOO!" _we both hear Luke screech out as another ray of bullets pierces the sky. In that moment, we both know that Bonnie's got to be dead. There's no way that Luke would've ever yelled like that otherwise. There goes another person lost to this pointless war… We both cringe as Luke's cries echo around us.

"Go," Lilly instructs, embracing me tightly before quickly helping me place the canoe in the freezing cold water. "Remember the plan, alright? Find somewhere safe, drop the canoe on the side of the lake, and we… I'll come find you, understand? I've shown you how to hunt for food, and it shouldn't be too hard to find fish out here. You're smart and I know you can do this."

"Lilly…"

"Goodbye, Clem."

"Lilly!"

With one last push, she shoves my canoe into the lake, takes one last sad look at me, and disappears into the camp – probably to try and kill Nate before he can cause any more harm than what's already been done. I haven't yet started to paddle, because I don't think I have any real strength left.

I'm going to be perfectly, horrendously honest here – the only reason I'm still alive and trying to survive out here… is because of Lee, Lilly and Kenny. It would be a dishonour to their memories if I just gave up and let myself get killed, but I keep asking myself this one question. What the hell is the point anymore?

Everyone I have ever loved is either dead or close to it. My life has been ripped out of me, and I'm but a shell of the former person that I used to be. Hell, am I really any different from the walkers? I kill things, don't have a purpose in life anymore, wander around from place to place aimlessly… The only real difference is that I'm still alive and breathing. What kind of life is this? Just to experience more heartbreak and pain, move somewhere else, and then repeat the cycle all over again?

But then I remember what Lee once told me…

_Flashback…_

"_Are you alright, sweet pea?"_

"_Nuh-uh."_

"_Come here, kiddo," Lee tells me, wrapping his arm around me comfortingly as we dangle our legs over the second deck of the motor-inn. We've just returned from the St. John's dairy, and the emotional trauma of it all has finally started to sink in. Watching Mark crawl down the stairs with no legs… and watching Larry get his face smashed in with a salt lick… It's a lot to take in for anybody, let alone an eight year old girl._

"_I miss my mom and dad…" I whisper to him as I breathe in sharply. _

"_I know, Clem. I know."_

"_Do you… ever think about your parents? Or your brother?" I ask quietly, not wanting to upset the man in any way. _

_Nodding sadly, Lee rubs comforting circles on my back that help ease me a little bit. "All the time," he explains, looking up to the stars as the rain claps against the roof above us. "Your family is the most important thing that a person's got, so you need to believe that yours is going to make it."_

"_I hope they're alright."_

"_Good – make sure you hold onto that hope. It's the one thing that none of this can take away," he tells me as I lean my head against his shoulder. This is kind of like our little ritual that we do whenever one of us is sad. We've got a connection with each other – somehow we know what the other is feeling._

"_I don't want people to die anymore… but it happens all the time. Is it ever going to stop?" I wonder aloud, looking up into his brown orbs. _

_It frightens me a little when he shakes his head._

"_I won't lie to you, Clem… No, it's still going to happen," he remarks; the both of us watching as Kenny makes his way up the RV to relieve Ben of his lookout duty. "It happens to everyone… Kenny's going to die, Lilly and Carley… and I'm going to die someday. We can always defend ourselves to stop it from happening, but when it comes for us there's not a whole lot we can do. That's why we need to always be careful, and treat every day like it's our last. We always need to find something worth living for… something to fight for."_

_We talk for a little while more, but eventually I succumb to sleep's embrace and wake up the next morning in my bed._

I never fully understood what he meant back then, but I certainly do now. Find something to fight for… I have to believe that Lilly and Luke will make it out of this. It would be a cruel sting of fate if they were to die now, but I _will _keep hope alive.

It's the least I can do for Lee.

"Wyatt…" I whisper, my eyes wide as he approaches me with his gun raised. If I don't do something quickly, then I too will be dead among the rest of them. This lake will become both Sarah and I's watery grave. "Please…"

He studies me for a long, hard while, as if he's totally conflicted about what he needs to do. There's no point in handing me over to Nate, because there won't ever be a peace treaty now. Too many people are dead for any terms to be hashed out anyway. If he shoots me, then I'll be one less problem for them. But…

"You saw what Nate did to Eddie… your friend…" I say to him quietly as my canoe floats in the lake near him. "He forced Lee to kill him… you know that. None of us wanted him dead. Eddie would want you to be happy, Wyatt. Doing this won't change anything – it won't bring him back. I'm so sorry for your loss, Wyatt… but you have to let me go."

"I didn't want any of this shit to happen," the blonde-haired stoner confesses, lowering his weapon to the side as his gaze saddens towards me. "Just… get out of here. I never saw you, and I never _want _to see you again. Just leave, alright? Get lost before Nate finds you."

"Thank you," I tell him before vigorously paddling my way out through the lake. This is going to take an extremely long time to get anywhere, but it has to be done.

But god damn it! There's a leak in the boat!

I have to act quickly, or else I'm going to sink – and there's no way that I'll be able to get far with this fake foot that I've got on me. Not seeing any other options, I groan before taking off my jacket (err, Sarah's jacket anyways. I wanted something to remember her by) and stuffing one of the sleeves in the hole; hoping that it could at least buy me some time.

Maybe using these canoes as protection from bullets wasn't such a great idea…

…

Teeth chattering, nose running and goose bumps covering my exposed skin, I continue to paddle through the rough waters of Lake Michigan – hoping that by some miracle I can find a safe enough place to retire for the day. That leak has proved to be troublesome, as on numerous occasions I've had to readjust my jacket sleeve to prevent me from sinking down to the bottom of the lake. I'm going to freeze my ass off in that thing when I land… I haven't had any time to grieve over my fallen friends, but maybe that's a good thing right now. I need to stay focused, and not let my emotions get in the way of my goal.

The water has been my only companion for the last couple of hours… or at least it's felt like hours, I can't really be sure anymore. Whatever the case may be, I've long since rowed away from Wellington and all of that death. There's no going back… not to look for friends, or say any last goodbyes.

Spotting a suitable location, I tiredly paddle my way over to the shore and collapse onto the ground, exhausted. And now that I'm at a suitable distance away from danger (at least for the moment), I finally get the chance to fully process what's just happened.

Lee, Kenny, Mike, Bonnie, Jane… and probably Luke as well as Lilly… all gone. I'm officially on my own, and I haven't felt this grief-stricken since my parents died.

A mix of hot and cold is felt on my face as I sob into the snow. The tough, little survivor girl has broken.

_Nate's POV_

I trip over a dead body but regain my balance, whistling at the ghastly scene as the dust settles and the gunfire stops. Blood and gore sprawl about rapidly, as I fire a bullet into the throat of Vernon, who's practically begging for me to do it.

"Fuck sakes," I mutter, wiping the blood away from my face as the crimson liquid travels down from the cut across my eye. That fucking Bonnie bitch got me good… but I shot her dead before she could do any more damage. She did a number on me, since it still hurts like hell.

"Hank!" I call out, causing him to turn towards me as he prepares to shoot Mike in the head. "Leave 'em be."

"But Nate… they'll just come back as lurkers…"

"Serves these fuckers right, then," I reply, examining the carnage as that Kenny bastard still struggles on the ground. Seems that he's not dead yet… I'll let his friends devour him. "That'll teach them for not cooperating like nice little children! Where's the murderer?"

"Who? Clementine?" he asks dumbly, joining me as what remains of our crew gather around. Eight of us left… this is such bullshit. I guess they wouldn't appreciate celebrating a victory party now.

"Do you know any other murderers around here? And who the hell names their kid after a fruit?" I ask, grinning as the woman we stole from all that time ago is presented to us – her hands tied tightly by a rope.

"The last of your kind," I announce, bending down to her level and chuckling as she glares intensely at me. "It's Lilly, right? Looks to me like you're out of options. Why don't you tell me where your little friend is, and everything can just be right as rain?"

"Fuck you."

"Not yet, my darling! We should probably wait for the first date, at least!" I mention dirtily, wiggling my eyebrows as she spits in my face. Wiping the saliva off, I smack her once straight across the mouth and stand up, ready to straight up murder the little girl she's got with her.

"Luke got out, too," Hank reports, shrugging his shoulders as I look over at him. "Pretty much everyone else is dead, though. Wyatt took off a while ago… mentioned something about having a better chance on his own than with us. One of our guys say that they saw a kid paddling away in one of the canoes to the north, but who knows, really?"

"That motherfucker," I snarl, hoping that Wyatt falls into a pit of walkers and suffers a slow, agonizing death. Make that _seven _people left from our camp. "We can't let them escape – I'm going after the kid. Take our guest here back to camp, and leave the rest of these bastards here to turn. It's no better than they deserve. Oh yeah, don't forget to burn down the rest of this place before you go – don't wanna risk them getting themselves resupplied or any of that fun stuff."

"You've got it, Nate."

Hopping on my motorcycle, I twiddle my fingers mockingly at Lilly and zoom away. She looks completely broken and utterly defeated, which is exactly how I want her to feel. Not only did I take over their camp, I destroyed it. The few patrons left are in no position to do anything… and there's no way that Lee made it out of that herd we cornered him off to. I've lit the match and started the flame… and burned everything to the ground. Momma would be so proud of me!

And as Tavia's last wish, I will see to it that Clementine dies for her crimes. Admittedly, I do feel a little bit bad for having it come this far, but my guilt is absolved when I think of the best interests of my camp.

It's almost over – I've won this war.

_Lee's POV_

I should've ended it right there… The gun was right there in my hand, but I couldn't force myself to pull the trigger. I was naïve to think that they'd just let me go without incident, as I was taken out of the frying pan and tossed straight into the fire. That back exit just lead straight into a walker herd, and the bastard locked me out as soon as I stepped outside. So much for not wanting to go through the front and risk being mobbed down by the camp… It's probably ten times worse out here.

But how the hell could I have forgotten my stuff on that desk… how could I have been so careless?! Both of my mementoes as well as my pistol are gone, and all I've really got left is Molly's old grappling hook. Better than nothing though, I suppose, but I used to think that Clem's leaf drawing was my one source of luck.

Or maybe it was Clementine herself who was my good luck charm?

I'm dealing with the last of them now – walkers aren't too tough to take down once you get the hang of it. A swift kick to the knee sends them down, and then all you have to do is go for a headshot. Quite simple, really. Molly's hook really does wonders on these guys.

As the last of this group goes down, and I dislodge my weapon from the back of its skull, I realize that I've been stuck out here for _way _too long. I need to get back to the camp and warn all of them – get Clementine to safety! Those shitheads are coming for her, and I WILL NOT let that happen!

But first I need to figure out where the hell I am right now. Nate's camp shouldn't be too far away, but I had to move around quite a bit due to the walkers coming for me. I haven't ever looked this bad before, since my clothes, face and arm are all completely covered in walker blood and guts. This made it much easier to deal with those sons of bitches, but I had to be careful not to get any of it in my eyes or mouth. Who knows what could happen if I got actual walker blood into my system?

Panting heavily, I make my way over hills and around trees; avoiding loitering walkers whenever possible. As nice as it would be to have someone go around and just try to kill all of the walkers around, it's just not physically possible. America's population was well over 100 million if I recall correctly, and there's only so much danger that I'm willing to put myself in.

Okay, so there's Nate's camp… but where is everybody? I can only spot one person coming back into the camp… but he looks really familiar. Is that Wyatt?

Whatever… if I go ask him if the rest of his group has already gone to Wellington, the best response I can get is a bullet to the face. That guy's been through enough trauma I'd say – and if the nervous way he's gathering up his stuff is any indication, I'd say that he's ditching these assholes.

It's a little late to be doing that, don't you think?

….

Stopping to catch my breath, I huff and puff while leaning my good arm against a tree. I'm pretty sure for most people if they had lost an arm, they probably wouldn't have lasted very long – especially out here. But I'm not like other people – I'm a survivor. Don't mistake my words for gloating, because I'm not. It's the truth. As long as I still have something to live for, then I won't give up. It's just that simple.

Taking a moment before heading out again, my nose catches the faint smell of… death. Are those walkers, or maybe it's…

Fuck.

Jogging at a steady pace as to not wear myself out even further, my gaze lands at the top of the hill, where the front gate has been bent out of shape and pretty much thrown open. It looks as though the metal fence was crashed into by a vehicle of some kind, which can only mean one thing: Nate and his goons showed up.

Cursing my slight malnutrition, I slowly make my way up the snow-covered path to Wellington, all the while wondering what might have happened. The smell is getting much more intense, which really isn't a good sign to begin with. But what will I find there? Will Kenny and Luke just shove me back down the hill before I even make it five feet inside? Or will Clementine be waving at me while playing a game of cards with Lilly; both of them smiling as they see me? Maybe the rest of the camp will have a change of heart and welcome me back with open arms… well, Kenny won't, but you never know.

Reaching the last stretch of hill, I groggily look upwards to see my old home of Wellington.

And in an instant, all of my hopes are dashed away; as my heart sinks to my stomach. Mike stumbles his way over to me… as a walker with no feelings other than an unrelenting hunger for people like me.

_AN: Don't shoot me, please! I know that I just killed off quite a few characters here, and that you're probably going to have me on wanted posters all over town… but I come in peace! This is a part of the story, albeit a very sad part! I hope you guys are enjoying this so far, and by all of the positive reviews I've been getting, I'd have to say that you are :) If you guys have any problems with how I'm doing things, then be sure to say so in the reviews! Constructive criticism helps me improve!_

_BTW I DIDN'T REALIZE THAT THE NEXT EPISODE WAS COMING SO SOON! TOMORROW?! WOOHOO! _


	16. Bury the hatchet

_AN: This one will be a little bit shorter, but it's VERY necessary for the overall plot over the past three stories. You'll see in a bit :P_

Had you told me a year and a half ago that I'd be bashing in walkers brains with a hook (walkers that at one point I knew), that I'd have one arm and travelled all the way back to a camp to look for a twelve year old girl, I would've told you to go see a psychiatrist. The apocalypse is just a tall tale; superstitious propaganda that the crazy man down the street was preaching about so that passers-by would give him their loose change. Not once would I ever have believed a lick of it – nothing like it has ever happened in recorded history, as far as I'm aware.

Nowadays, I wouldn't be sceptical if someone came up to me and said that magical flying unicorns were farting out shiny rainbows all over the sky.

Our realities have shifted into something out of a horrible nightmare. Killing to survive… I had thought our civilization was beyond all of that. Three years ago (before going to prison) I was sitting hunched over a cup of coffee, arguing with Donna about how expensive our water bill was that month. Trivial things like that have no place in this world anymore – instead of figuring out how to _pay _for a water bill, now you have to figure out how to find water _period. _I took shit for granted back then. Electricity is a commodity that should be cherished; water, heat, air conditioning, food, clothes on your back… I never realized how truly important this kind of stuff was until now.

Funny how it takes the end of the world for me to realize that, as I forcibly shove Mike to the ground and plant my hook into his undead skull.

Cringing, I place my foot against his back and tear the weapon out; revealing blood and mangled bits of brain coming out of his head. It's hard to believe that I just saw this guy walking around and talking yesterday… and he's already turned into one of those monsters.

But Mike's not the only one.

Vernon, Jane and Bonnie are all slowly walking around – their eyes glazed over mindlessly and skin as pale as the blizzard that's starting to form around me. A sigh rumbles within my chest, and I shudder sadly as I take Vernon and Jane down, one after the other.

Tavia's already been eaten to bits as I walk by her, but thankfully for her she seemed to have died before any of that happened. As much as I completely despised and loathed the woman, in my heart I know that nobody deserves to go out like that. I can't seem to find Nate anywhere though…

Oh good god…

"Urghh…" Kenny grunts on the ground, clutching the bullet hole painfully but not noticing me approach. Bonnie's clambering up near him as he squirms around, but thankfully Kenny aims his pistol straight at her head and takes her out.

Well, this is going to be fun.

"Heh heh heh…" he chuckles mirthlessly as I tower over him, with me not showing any emotion on my face. I'm not really sure what to think here. "Well… ain't this just fucking ironic? After all of this shit… you're still standing, and I'm gonna die… by you… I had a feeling that Nate was bullshitting about you being dead…"

"Where is she?"

"Is that all you've got to say, Lee? After all we've been through…"

"Is that supposed to be a joke or something?" I ask, shaking my head and huffing out a grunt. "Jesus, Kenny! I didn't want this to happen to you – "

"Bullshit."

"…but do you really fucking blame me for hating your guts? You treated me like shit, and basically tried to kill me in Savannah. Hell, I'd be dead right now if I hadn't managed to get out of their camp after you tossed me out."

Panting heavily, Kenny motions for me to bend down so that he won't have to talk as loudly. It seems that the old fisherman's on his deathbed, and I suppose I should do what he asks of me.

"Is it true… did you tell that fucker about… Carver…"

"I'd never do that, Kenny," I tell him firmly, shaking my head. "You know I would never give Clementine up. She's my family."

"…what makes you say that?" he asks me – no malice or disdain behind his words. Just curiosity. "Tell me honestly: do you really think you've done right by her? Has she… benefited from being around you?"

"I… I don't really know, man," I answer honestly; for the first time thinking that Kenny might be right. "We've both tried to keep her safe, haven't we? Isn't that really all we can do?"

But there's a certain doubt in my words – it's faint, but it's there. Sometimes I wonder if my being here is holding Clem back at all. The more that I think about it, the more I second guess myself – sure, when she was eight years old then yeah I needed to watch over her.

Now though? I've seen her take better care of herself than _I _do for _myself_. I'm an emotional wreck half the time, and it seems these days that Clementine gives out the pep talks and not the other way around. She's smart, knows how to shoot a gun, and is very resourceful. Other than that damn foot, she's better suited to live out here than I am.

"Maybe you're right," Kenny breathes out, surprising me as I thought for sure that he'd argue against me. Perhaps death is giving him a different perspective. "Maybe she's outgrown the both of us… We've had our time, Lee… we've both dealt with kids. But… you need to find that Nate fucker… and tear out his throat."

"I'll make sure of it."

"Good… good…" he whispers, laying his head back lazily. "Why did we fight so much, man? What was even the point of it?"

Rolling up the sleeve of my detached limb, the both of us let out a low chuckle at how pointless our arguments really were. Sure, he left me in that alley on my own with the possibility of bleeding out, but if he hadn't cut off my arm at that moment, then I wouldn't even be here right now. Hell, _Clementine _wouldn't be here right now. As much of a prick the man was, at least he was there for her when she needed it. Sometimes comfort is the most precious thing you can give to someone – especially to a twelve year old who's lost her parents.

"Clementine… Lilly and I told her to take a canoe… and leave it on the shore somewhere…" Kenny explains, spluttering slightly as he coughs up some blood. He doesn't have much longer. "Make sure… you find her, alright?"

"Of course I will," I answer, nodding confidently as blood drips from his mouth and onto the fresh-fallen snow. This blizzard's really picking up.

"Alright… enough of this shit. I'm tired of seeing your little bitchy face all the time. Let's end it," Kenny huffs out, partly joking and partly serious. Taking one last long breath, Kenny looks towards me with a tired eye. "Hey, Lee?"

"Yeah?"

"Are we cool now?"

Slowly holding out my hand, he and I engage in a firm but final handshake – we're cool. That doesn't mean we have to like each other, because we sure as hell don't in any way, shape or form.

But at least we've sort of buried the hatchet.

"Later, old man."

"See you, asshole."

Picking up Kenny's pistol, I aim it slowly at his head; my arm shaking as I squeeze the trigger and snuff out his life forever. That's it – after two and a half years of hating his guts, Kenny is dead.

He's dead, and yet I've never felt worse in my entire life.

I kid you not, I'm shedding a couple of tears over the man whom I was so sure I couldn't despise any more even if I had tried to. It's not as if the other guys here didn't affect me – they did for sure, and I'm very saddened that this whole camp is desecrated. But… I'm grieving more over the moments we'd lost – of what could've been. Kenny and I could have been the best of friends if we wanted to, and all of this could've been much simpler. We wouldn't have been at each other's throats, Kenny wouldn't have taken off in that motherfucking RV, and who knows? Maybe people wouldn't have died so needlessly.

Maybe if I was here, I could've _saved _Kenny.

One good thing did come out of this, however: now Kenny will be able to see his family again. Duck, Katjaa and maybe even that Sarita girl he talked about… hopefully they'll find each other, wherever they've ended up.

"Rest in peace, old man," I whisper on the wind, scrounging around his pockets for extra bullets. Not a whole lot on him, but still better than nothing. "Find your son… tell him I said hi."

Squinting my eyes, it's very difficult to see anything ahead because of the snow. But up in the distance I see… an ATV? Yeah! It's just sitting there with its tires buried, along with a few dead bodies lying around it.

Moving forward, I rub my arms for warmth as the winter chill takes its toll. Fuck this weather, seriously!

It looks as though Hank as well as a few of his buddies finally got what was coming to them, as they're riddled with bullet holes from their heads to their chests. The bodies seem pretty fresh, too, indicating that they must have died very recently. There also seems to be someone else's blood a little ways away. It could be nothing, of course – just another one of these poor sods who died a needless death. It could've just been another of Nate's goons – but what if it's not? I wonder if it was Kenny or…

Lilly, please be safe… You're a survivor, and I know you can get through this. God damn it… if anyone can get through this shit, then it's you.

As for myself, though, I sit on top of the ATV and end Hank's undead life before it even really begins. As soon as he falls back into the snow, I twist the key around in the ignition and cheer internally as the engine roars to life.

Like always, I've got one goal in mind… one thing that I keep fighting for, and one thing that keeps me alive.

"Just hang on, Clementine," I mutter as I drive off from this wretched place, "I'm coming for ya."

_AN: Again, sorry that this was so short, but… it's sort of final for Lee and Kenny, don't you think? I thought that it was a fitting ending for their miserable relationship, and it made me kind of glad that they got to patch things up (sort of). _

_We're coming to the home stretch here, folks! I'm not ending this quite yet, but I'm thinking of a plausible way to end this series off. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this little snippet here, and I'll be sure to get in the next one ASAP! Until then, keep on being awesome :) _


	17. Rock bottom

_Hiccup! Hiccup!_

Oh crap…

_Hick… Hiccup! Hiccup!_

Great – I've been sobbing so much while laying down here that I've contracted a major case of the hiccups. I haven't had these since I was like eight years old; trying to down a bottle of coke just like my uncle could down a bottle of beer. It seemed really easy to do, but I practically choked and got a stern look from my mom. It wasn't pretty.

Anyways, I think that I've ran the tear wells dry within me, which really isn't something that I normally do, but… any normal person with a decent heart would probably do the same. Having everyone you cared about just annihilated within the span of a day? Not to mention having to leave your home after having just gotten used to staying in one spot for a period of time. Wellington was a paradise compared to living out on the road.

Now I know how Lee must have felt before…

Damn it all! I can't even say his name without getting choked up, but thinking about him being dead is even worse.

Gritting my teeth, I yank Sarah's old jacket out of the hole in the canoe and try to wring out the sleeve a little bit. Just like I was taught – keep warm, find food and water, and find shelter. Those are the three things that Lilly taught me when surviving out in the cold; staying safe was just implied.

Jesus… the jacket even _smells _like Sarah…

_Hiccup! Hick!_

Being thankful that the hiccups have started to slow down at least, my right arm shivers coldly as the wetness seeps into my skin – clearly it's not going to dry anytime soon. I make sure that the canoe is very visible for Lilly to see (if she's actually still alive, that is), that my pistol is still fastened in my pocket, and that I haven't forgotten anything else. Affirming that I haven't, I make my way through the snow and try to find a suitable place to set up a campfire of sorts. The blizzard's crashing against my face as I move forward; slapping me with the cold reality that I'm completely alone. No more kid's stuff – I need to take care of myself, even though the only reason I'm doing so is per my friends' last requests.

Literally, that's the only thing keeping my will to live in check.

Grateful that the walkers are much slower in the cold, I shoot a couple of them in the head and proceed without incident. That's another advantage that I have over these beasts – I'm a hell of a lot smarter than they are, and I can kill them at a distance. They need to get up close.

They're spread out pretty thin right now, and this would be pretty easy if it weren't for this howling snowstorm. Taking out three more, I keep pushing forward blindly through this hellhole.

I don't know which is worse anymore: slow walkers with a freezing cold blizzard, or normal walkers with warm weather. Both of them seem shitty to me either way… but this whole world is shitty nowadays.

Figuring that that's the last of them for now, I decide to make a left into the forest and make myself a campground of sorts for the night. Cursing my short-sightedness for not accepting Jane's nail file when she offered, I have to resort to other options: meaning either I try to scrape two pieces of wood together (both of which are buried underneath the snow) or grab a rock and try banging it against something (also under the snow).

After about half an hour of digging around, I can officially say that my hands have never felt so numb in my life. They're losing their colour, turning to a pale, frozen texture which reminds me that I have to make this as quickly as possible. Let's see… I've collected at least two dozen branches here, but the only stones I could find were really tiny ones. That'll have to do.

Setting up the firewood into a nice, big pile, I decide that I'll do a trick that Lilly taught Duck and I a long time ago. You take one bigger stick in the middle, and then you quickly spin it back and forth with your hands. This works in two ways: it can help start the fire if you're fast enough, and the constant motion heats up your hands a little bit. I could really use both of those things, to be honest.

Must… get… warm…

Damn… this isn't working at all. Picking up the rock, I instead get to work on striking the stick and hoping that by some miracle I can actually not freeze to death tonight.

After almost having given up on getting something started, I cheer in victory as a spark forms near the bottom of the pile; giving off a nice, warm glow that's just so tempting for me to sit in and burn my clothes. I feel like a cavewoman who literally just discovered fire for the first time – it's firggin' awesome!

The only real problem that I've got right now is food – obviously I'm not going to find a deer out here, not in this weather anyways. The lake itself hasn't frozen due to its size, but I'm not going anywhere with a leaky canoe. And it's not as if I can just use a stick to fish on the side of the bank…

Way to plan ahead, Clementine!

My stomach growls as I continue to warm my hands up and wrap Sarah's jacket more tightly around my small frame. I didn't realize how much taller the girl actually was than me, but that's actually a good thing – more to keep me nice and cozy.

Sighing, I twirl the embers around with a stick and hope that Lilly will come find me soon. I think that some company could be really what I need right now. Lilly always knows what to do in these kinds of situations – that's what I love about her. She was the one who kept Duck and I safe even in the darkest of times, and she was the one who against all odds found me after I had killed Carver and Troy.

I owe everything to her.

My stomach roars again, but I can't quench the unrelenting hunger that sits within me. This shouldn't be too much of a problem – after all, I've gone to bed hungry before, and I'm still here. This is just going to have to be a test of my wills; of whether or not I will break in these conditions.

I check my pistol to make sure it's good and secure, but I've come to a stunning realization: I'm completely out of bullets. How did I not notice this before?! I must have used the last of them on those walkers back there, and didn't even hear the click of an empty gun! This sucks… I'm alone, defenseless and hungry. Not the best combination by any means.

Suddenly, I can hear in the distance the sound of… an engine? Does somebody have a car out here? Could it be – is it actually Lilly coming to find me out here?! She must have seen the smoke and come rushing over! Sweet! We can finally get out of this miserable place and start over fresh! We'll find a smaller place with little to no other people there, and then we can really get a system going. No more wars, no more killing other people – just having to worry about keeping our shelter going strong and keeping the walkers at bay. It'll be just like old times!

Of course, that could just be the hunger and tiredness talking. Don't get your hopes up, Clem.

Besides, how could Lilly have gotten a car?

The sound is getting closer, and the more I think about the more I panic. How could I have been so stupid? There's no way that this person's friendly – my chances of that are slim to none. My only shot at them being a friend is if it's Lilly… everyone else is pretty much dead.

Gotta clear this… douse it with something, Clem! But what the hell do I use… Snow! Yes, snow! That'll work… Just have to get…

Shit… The engine sound's really close by, and the fire's still burning! Just play it cool, Clementine. You're gonna be fine.

You've been through worse before…

Suddenly, the roar of the engine dies and the sound of someone getting off replaces it. My body is frozen – part anticipation, part actual cold. Their footsteps crunch in the snow as the mystery person slowly approaches the campsite. There's no point in trying to get rid of the fire now – they know that I'm here, and I don't have any bullets left to use. Let's hope this person's at least sensible…

"Mind if I sit down with ya, little lady?" Nate smirks, waving slightly as he approaches and sits across from me. He warms his calloused hands up against the fire; his gaze terrifying as I see him over the flames. Nate eerily reminds me of Carver. "Oh baby, that's warm! Nice and toasty, don't ya think? All I need are some graham crackers and some fucking marshmallows."

Not acknowledging his ramblings with a response, I grab the stick and absentmindedly twirl the embers around some more; trying to make it seem like I know what I'm doing.

In actuality though, I'm terrified of what this guy's going to do.

"You can probably already tell that your camp ain't what it used to be," Nate explains, pulling out a cigarette and using the fire to light it. He then sticks it in his mouth and exhales a big cloud of smoke from his lips. "Want a hit of this stuff, kid? I'll warn you now though – once you've gotten addicted, it's mighty hard to quit."

"Why are you here?"

"I think we both know the answer to that, Clementine."

This guy's _worse _than Carver! He killed everyone in Wellington, made Lee murder our friend, burned people's homes, and now he's travelled on a motorcycle out through a blizzard just to kill me and finish the job. Nate's persistent, I'll give him that. Persistent but crazy.

"You surprised me today, you know that?" he states, not bothering to hide the rifle that he's got tucked nearby. "Had some good friends on you, that's for sure. I was pretty amazed though, how you were willing to let them die for you and all. That's some pretty sick shit even by my standards."

"Shut the fuck up…"

"Whoa! Language, darling! Didn't your parents ever teach you some manners?" Nate remarks cockily, as if he's in total control of this situation. To be frank, he kind of is. "Pretty little thing like you shouldn't have to talk like that."

"I shouldn't have to do a lot of things."

"True that. True that…" he agrees while nodding his head. "You're one tough cookie, kid. I'll give you that much. Lee must have taught you well."

I need to know… this question has to be asked. I have to know this before I meet my ultimate demise.

"What did you do to him… Is Lee really dead?" I ask, shuddering slightly as a frown forms on my face.

For the briefest of seconds, I'm pretty sure that Nate looks sympathetic towards me; as if he might have felt slightly bad for what I've lost. But deep down, I know that he's bluffing. Nate doesn't give a rat's ass about anyone but himself – he's got his own personal agenda, which means to hell with everyone else if they disagree with him.

"Lee was a regular business tycoon – he tried to sweet talk me into saving your camp. Said that he'd do anything as long as I didn't hurt you, but amusingly it turned out that you were the one we were after the whole time! How the fuck did you kill Carver and Troy all by yourself? Makes no sense to me."

"What. Did. You. Do. To. Lee," I hiss at him, trying to prevent myself from hopping over the fire and risking certain death.

Nate smiles cruelly and shakes his head in amusement. "You're a fun kid to talk to, Clementine," he chuckles, sitting more upright. "We sent the bastard out through the back entrance, and my guess is that he got swallowed up by the walkers surrounding us. Haven't seen or heard from him since."

"Then there's a chance… there's always a chance…"

"Not really sure how that's gonna concern you, seeing's how you're going to be dead and all," Nate remarks, standing up, stretching his back and coming over towards me. He then bends down to my level and smirks.

I've got to think of something right now, or else the last thing I'll see is Nate standing over me with a satisfied smirk that I'm dead.

"Sorry it had to come to this," he says, clutching the rifle lazily against his leg, "But I always keep my promises."

Pretending to hold my head down in surrender, I hear Nate chuckle like an evil mastermind.

He doesn't notice that I've stuck the stick even further into the flames.

"Can I ask you something?" I question, ushering for him to come closer to me. "If I'm going to die anyways, then could you at least give me one last request?"

"Fine, I'll play along," Nate agrees, not knowing what I have planned. He sits down beside me; his head sitting inches away from mine. I bite my lip in anticipation, and…

With all of my might, I raise the burning stick straight at his face; sending burning hot embers and flames onto the right side of his head.

Howling in agony, Nate's skin burns and sizzles as the flames eviscerate his face. The smell of burnt flesh is overwhelming, but I don't have time to examine the monster. Immediately standing up, I hobble away through the woods; ducking as Nate fires off a shot from his rifle that goes nowhere near me. Maybe he's a little bit blinded now, too.

"_YOU LITTLE FUCKING BITCH!" _he screams, shooting off two more shots as he undoubtedly returns to his motorcycle, _"I'M GONNA CUT YOU UP INTO TINY PIECES AND FEED YOU TO THE FUCKING WALKERS! ARGHHHHHH!"_

There aren't any cheap tricks when you're fighting for your life – I remember Lilly telling me one time. That may have been a low blow, but it'll buy me some time at least. That's really the only thing that matters.

Rushing as fast as I can manage with this fake foot, I try cutting through trees and bushes so that Nate will have a harder time of catching up to me. But the both of us surely know that I won't be able to keep this up forever – I need to find some place where I can hide.

This goes on for about ten minutes or so, and I know that Nate's still hot on my trail. There's no mistaking it, not with Nate's booming voice just telling me to roll over and die already.

Well I've got some news for him: I'm not by him! Not now, and not ever!

Adrenaline pumps through my veins, but I stop and hide behind one of the trees that seem to be facing an old cottage of some kind. Peeking my head out onto the road, I don't seem to see the man anywhere, as he must have passed me already. Thinking that this will be my best chance for getting away from him without freezing to death, I hurriedly go up to the front door of the cottage and curse as I find out it's still locked. God damn it! This is the second thing that Jane's nail file could've been useful for!

There's really only one thing that I can do. Luckily, the previous owners kept some pretty hefty rocks in their garden, so I set to work on tossing them straight at the window near the doorway. There wouldn't be any point of me trying to kick down the door, as I'm not a super hero or anything like the comics that Duck got me hooked on.

I chuck the big rocks about ten times before finally getting the end result – a smashed-up window pane which looks really painful to enter through.

Carefully pulling myself up to the window sill, I hiss in pain as shards of broken glass cause my hands to bleed slightly, before finally dropping into the room.

This is right as I see Nate double back on the motorcycle and stop a few feet away from the cottage.

The inside of this place is actually really nice, even though it hasn't been maintained for quite some time. There's an old television set in the family room like my grandparents used to own, along with two leather couches and a rocking chair. There are bar stools that run along the kitchen counter, as well as stainless-steel appliances and a gas oven by the looks of things. This is a single-story house, unless you include the basement. I bet the family that owned it would come here every summer.

"Where the hell are you…" he snarls as I duck down to avoid detection. Thinking that the basement is my best chance, I tiptoe my way over and silently curse myself for stepping on the glass.

_Crack!_

"Huh?!" Nate remarks, going up to the front porch and twisting the doorknob fruitlessly. I don't have a whole lot of time here, so as silently as possible I descend the steps into the basement.

The cottage thankfully has some smashed windows in the basement, which I hadn't noticed before since they're located at the side of the house. The basement itself is unfinished, but there are several beds spread out down here along with an old kitchen table that they must not have gotten rid of yet. Maybe they kept it in case renters brought big families along with them, hence the large number of beds around this place.

Exploring further, I make my way into a darkened room with (what else?) more beds as well as a small dresser-drawer. Opening up the wooden cupboard of it, I find an old slingshot, a few rusty nails, a small hammer and a pack of chewing gum. Putting the gum in my pocket, I also take the slingshot along with the nails and hammer. It's certainly not a gun, but if worse comes to worse I can at least take Nate by surprise with this thing.

I hear some more rumbling going on from upstairs, probably meaning that Nate has managed to get the door open, but I also hear… a small moaning sound.

Carefully sneaking over to the source, I gasp in shock at what I've discovered – a small boy walker, completely malnourished and looking a hell of a lot like Duck. It seems that somebody tied his leg to one of the wooden poles down here, and my heart saddens as I see his hollowed-out cheeks.

"Must've starved to death…" I murmur to myself sadly, keeping one ear fixed on the walker and one focused on what's going on upstairs. It truly sucks that I won't be able to end his misery without attracting Nate's attention, but maybe I can use this as a sort of distraction if he does come down here.

….

"I know you're here, you clever, miserable fuck," Nate hisses as he descends the staircase; his weight making the floorboards creak. A rush of panic swirls around me as I sit in cover not too far from where my new walker friend is situated.

As I had predicted, Nate follows his moaning slowly as I prepare the slingshot. The rusted nail will have to work for now, and then I can…

"Typical little shit stain! Always hiding like a coward instead of coming out and facing me head on!" he snarls, shaking his head as he sees the boy.

Nate… he looks like that villain from Duck's Batman comic book. Oh, what was his name… umm… Two-Face! Yeah, that's right! Nate Two-Face! A big chunk of his cheek is all burned up and melted away, and part of his eyeball has been scorched. It's disgusting to look at, really. He looks like a melted wax figurine.

Pulling the string on the slingshot back, I fire it as soon as he turns towards me, grunting in pain as I drop the slingshot and proceed to swing the hammer right at his groin.

"Oh god…" he hisses, clutching his junk comically as I race towards the shattered basement window. "No more babies for Nate… oww…"

Cursing my small height, I quickly shove one of the kiddie beds over and bounce up on it until I reach the window ledge. Time's running out, as Nate's going to be back any second now! Once again, using what little muscle I have left, I lift myself up and start to crawl out the window. I almost make it all the way through, when…

"Gotcha, you little bitch!" Nate snarls, holding onto my prosthetic foot and trying to drag me back inside. The thing is practically attached to my stump, so this hurts like you won't believe. I scream as he pulls on it harder, until I start kicking against his fingers with my other foot.

With no other option, I pull away as hard as I can and break free of the prosthetic – sending small amounts of blood to drip onto the snow.

Pain courses up my leg as the fake foot sits on the ground – Nate must've lost his grip before I escaped. This feeling is ridiculously hurting, but I stifle it up by biting hard on my tongue, picking the prosthetic up and hopping away on one foot like an idiot.

I stumble on the way as I desperately try to reach safety; the hammer still in one hand as I go along. There's no time for me to even make an attempt at putting this stupid foot back on, and Nate's already sprinted out of the cottage and back onto his bike.

There's a rather large section of the lake that actually did manage to get frozen, and I don't see any other options of getting around it. Walkers slowly stumble around, not noticing me but instead looking toward Nate and the sound of his motorcycle.

"_I'LL RUN YOU INTO THE FUCKING GROUND!" _he roars, revving the engine and heading straight towards me – no regard for his own safety or anything as walkers come within inches of him.

With no other choices, I hop over to the lake but trip down the small hill that leads to it. Down and down I go as snow fills my face and sticks to my clothes; with me hissing in pain as I bump my stump on an exposed tree branch below.

Crawling like the desperate twelve-year old girl that I am, I can hear the ice cracking underneath my weight as I move forward. Is this really what it's come down to? How am I supposed to survive this? I can't just crawl my way across the ice! That'll take me hours to get across, and I won't even know where I'm going!

Using my arms to try and push myself back upright, I collapse only once before trying again. There's no way that I'm losing this to Nate! No fucking way!

When I finally do manage to sit myself up, I hear the click of Nate's rifle; locked, loaded and aimed straight at me. Nate's at the top of the hill where I fell from, and I don't think I've ever seen a crazier look on his face than right now.

"It's been a hell of a ride," he states, closing his bad eye painfully, "Sayonara, Clementine."

The pain in my shoulder is enormous and instant, as I fall backwards and finally crash through the ice to the depths below. This feels a lot like when Nick shot me back near the cabin, except this time the combined pain is exponentially worse. Blood from my wounds floats to the surface, and I'm preparing myself for death.

I can't swim with this foot being the way it is, and the gunshot just below my shoulder is preventing me from moving my left arm at all.

Maybe I'll get to see them again: Lee, Lilly, Kenny, Duck, Ben, Carley… all of them, including the new friends that I had made. I hope in their final hours that they didn't think bad of me – I certainly didn't of them.

The water down here is freezing cold, but it's peaceful down here at least. No violence, no loss, no regrets… just the calm flow of water as it engulfs me in its cold embrace.

My eyes grow more unfocused, and I force a small smile to my face as the air retreats from me. I wonder if Mom and Dad would be proud of me; of what I've gone through.

That's my last though before my vision slowly goes black and the first drops of water enter my lungs.


	18. Loblaws

Hearing the gun go off only makes me charge forward even faster…

With the grappling hook in one hand, I raise it up high to strike down with the fury of a god, but he unfortunately turns around just as I'm about to end his miserable existence. I do manage to knock the rifle off balance and down the hill out of his reach, but he's still got two arms while I only have one.

I don't care about how grotesque the man looks like now; as far as I'm concerned, it's just that the monster has just been unmasked. Nate's personality hasn't changed – he's a deranged, psychopathic killer who I intend to put down for good. He smacks me across the face as his fist connects, but I knee him in the stomach and cause him to double over.

He slices my stomach with a knife that I didn't know he had, but the pain is nullified as the rage consumes my very being. The monster within me has sprung loose, and I'm not holding him back as I punch him right in the burned-up part of his face multiple times. Even though Nate's in extraordinary pain, he manages to cut me on the cheek – just barely missing my eyeball and taking me out of commission for good. Grabbing his wrist after he does it, I slam his arm down while placing my foot firmly near the elbow. With a sickening crack, I lurch it backwards and break his arm as he contorts in sheer agony.

But I'm not finished with him yet.

As gruesomely as I can manage, I roughly take my fingers to the burned part of his head and dig as his nerves send pulses of pain and hurt throughout his body.

"FUCK YOU!" I bellow as he cringes bellow my weight on top of him. "YOU ASKED FOR THIS SHIT! FUCK YOU!"

I only slow down my assault when I look down towards the frozen part of the lake… and notice that a small chunk of the ice has cracked through, and glancing hard enough I can faintly make out a small blood splatter.

Clementine…

With a mighty war cry, I pull my hand out of his face and reach for the grappling hook; my fingers all bloody and messed up.

"Rot in hell, you son of a bitch… You'll never hurt anyone ever again…" I mutter before taking the hook and slamming it down hard into his neck. Nate gurgles and struggles to breathe as the blood pours out of his throat and mouth, and for one second I see an emotion play across his good eye: fear. He was afraid of dying after all – maybe it was because he didn't know what would happen to him after due to his actions, or because he was a complete coward who talked a big game but always hid behind others when things got screwy.

I don't know, nor do I care.

Yanking the hook out, I leave Nate's corpse to rot and sprint down the hill towards the lake; ignoring my own safety as I rush out onto the ice. She better not be…

Bending down towards the hole, I feel the ice shift underneath me, but I plunge my head down into the frozen water without delay. At first, I don't see anything – nothing but dark, murky water with some seaweed and other aquatic plants down below.

But then I get a closer look – Clementine!

Submerging my entire body into the freezing lake, I use my legs to kick myself down so that I can reach her. I may only have one arm, but that's never stopped me before! Grabbing a hold of my girl's waist, panic erupts within me as I see that her eyes are closed and there's blood pouring out of her. If there were any sharks living in the Great Lakes, then we'd both be snacks in no time.

Luckily Clem's pretty light to carry, so somehow I manage to kick my way to the surface; gasping for air as I break through to the air. I'm freezing, but my health isn't important right now.

Clem's not breathing!

"God damn it, sweet pea… come on! Come on!" I chant as I flip the girl onto her back and proceed to perform CPR on her. With a few puffs of air to her mouth, I go back to pushing up and down on her sternum. If there is such a thing as miracles, please… I need one right now!

Again and again I do the CPR – not willing or able to give up on the last ray of sunshine that I have in my cloudy, dreary world. I _will not _lose Clementine! I WILL NOT LOSE MY LAST ANCHOR! CLEMENTINE WILL NOT DIE! I WON'T ALLOW IT TO HAPPEN! SHE –

_Cough… cough… splutter… cough… wheeze…_

Ahh, there you go. Told ya!

"Oh thank god… Clementine…" I whisper as a few shaky sobs escape my throat. I cradle this precious child in my arms as if she's my own flesh and blood; unwilling to let go as I feel her shudder against my chest.

"Guuuhhh… Ughhhh…." she mumbles incoherently, making me hold her in my arm to examine the poor kid. Her face is a deathly pale colour, and there's a big blood splatter directly below her right shoulder. Lifting the collar of her shirt down slightly, she screams unintelligibly as I whisper that she's going to be fine. I just hope that I'm not lying though – she's had a bullet ripped right through her, and blood is still smearing everywhere.

Immediately tearing a piece of her jacket off (which strangely doesn't look like hers), I whisper to her soothingly as I place the fabric firmly over the wound; causing her to whimper out slowly.

"I know it hurts, sweet pea… But I'm gonna fix you up, alright?" I say to her as her eyes go wide, clutching onto my jacket for some form of warmth. Unfortunately for the both of us, I'm soaked now too. And if we don't find someplace warm soon, then none of what I'm trying to do will even matter. Wrapping the piece of her jacket around her shoulder and tying it tightly, I decide that that'll have to do for now. She's clutching onto her fake foot, which is worrisome in itself…

But that also means that I'm going to have to carry her with one arm.

Fuck.

As gingerly as I can possibly manage, I slowly lift her up onto my shoulder and cringe as she elicits small shrieks of pain. Clem can't talk, but I certainly understand her anyways.

"We're gonna make it through this," I whisper desperately to her, stumbling as the pain from Nate's blows start taking their toll. "You and me – we'll survive this shit together, I promise."

There's determination somewhere within my bones – I have only to reach out and grasp it for myself.

…It's just that in this kind of situation…so bleak…so helpless… I'm fighting against nearly impossible odds. Where the hell am I even going? Crossing the ice to get away from the walker who used to be called Nate, and for what? To delay the inevitable and just cause the both of us more pain and misery?

There's no way for me to travel back to Wellington, even if there really was a way of doing it. My ATV ran out of gas a while back, and there's no way that Clem would be able to stay on Nate's motorcycle without falling off the back. No – this is the only way now. I have to survive… for her sake, I'll find something.

Clementine must've been on a really loose section of ice, since I haven't really had any problems since we left. Nate fell into the opening in the ice where Clementine had previously fallen, and I haven't looked back. At least the blizzard's sort of started to clear up. It's not completely fine out here, but at least I can sort of see.

"Urgh…" I grunt, having to stop for a moment as the pain in my stomach intensifies. With no extra hand to support myself (due to me having to hold onto the hook), I suck in a big intake of air and push forward; a small splash of red seeping onto my jacket. Nate got me good, it seems.

As for the twelve year old on my shoulder, she's still in a tremendous amount of pain – it makes me look like a sissy compared to what she's going through. Prosthetic ripped off, struck by a bullet, starting to get a case of hypothermia… no kid should ever have to go through something like that. Once I find someplace safe for us, I'm going to try and do better by her. I won't let her down like I did before – that's a promise. I'd never do anything (intentionally) to hurt Clementine.

"Looks… like a winner," I remark, losing energy by the minute as I spot a decently-sized grocery store in the distance. Adjusting her so that she's better situated on my shoulder, I internally sigh in slight content. We might be okay after all. "We're almost there, sweet pea. Just a bit more of a push."

But unfortunately for me, I'm quickly losing strength and feeling in my limbs. With each step, my legs become weaker; as the combination of carrying another person for a few miles, along with getting cut up with a knife, the cold and the fact that I haven't eaten anything in quite a while. Spots threaten to cloud my vision as I force myself to keep going.

After what feels like forever, we finally make it to the shore, and I drop her gently for a break; taking off my jacket and wrapping her tiny frame inside of it. I've got a sweater underneath this, so I'm not quite as chilly as I ought to be (though it's still soaked). However, lifting the bottom of my sweater up and placing my hand on my stomach… reveals red. A _lot _of red.

"Shit…" I murmur, shaking my head as my fingers sting my sternum. That might require stitches, and I don't think Clem's packing any. In fact, looking over at her, I don't think Clem's got anything at all. How the hell did she survive out here? I managed to track her canoe and follow Nate's motorcycle tracks fairly easily, but when I drove to her campsite, there wasn't any sign of her having cooked something. Was she going to starve herself?

Groans can be heard nearby, indicating walkers, so I poke my head up above the bank of the lake to scout out the situation.

How did I not notice these guys before?

There's got to be twenty-five of them _at least _out on the road out there! They don't notice me yet, but they will soon enough – the walker guts washed off when I dove to rescue Clementine. I'll have to do this all over again. But what about her…

"I'll be right back, okay?" I tell her, wiping a loose strand of hair out of her face. "No matter what happens, don't try to move, understand? Stay out of sight, and you'll be fine."

She nods her shivering body once, indicating that she agrees. Under normal circumstances, she probably would've argued for the two of us to go together, but there's no way that she'd make it two feet without becoming a walker snack.

God, I hope this goes smoothly.

Glancing side to side, I see two options: left or right. Yeah, I know, not very descriptive choices here, but both sides look potentially dangerous. Eenie, meanie, miney, moe…

Left it is.

My footprints crunch in the snow as I sneak up behind a walker and snuff its life out; trying to not attract the attention of his buddy nearby. Quickly smearing some of this nasty shit onto my clothes, I freeze in place as the female walker looks behind straight at me. I've never really stared for too long at a walker before, since most of the time I prefer to just have them killed before they can eat me.

But a walker… Its eyes actually aren't that different from a human's, with the exception that they're glazed over and milky white. The rest of the face though – completely different. Its skin has peeled away in strips, dried blood stains line their chests and ripped clothing, and their hair has deteriorated rapidly. It's so weird to think of them as being people once, but I can still see the resemblance.

Once that lovely lady turns away from me, I start to slowly drag away my catch back towards the safe cover of the bank. Or at least, it's safe for now. Who knows how long it'll be before they get over here and munch on us.

Coughing and wheezing for air as I drag him over, I realize that I'm not quite as strong as I used to be. I'm not old per say, as I'm pretty sure at this point I'm forty years old. But the stress of living in the apocalypse is taking its toll.

I wonder how long I've really got left? Without getting torn apart by walkers or shot at, I mean.

"I'm, uh… I'm gonna put some walker guts on you, okay?" I tell her, surprised and slightly concerned that she hasn't reacted in any way to this. Maybe she's getting sick. "Here comes the fun part…"

Taking the hook, I drive it right at the walker's chest and pull down harshly; the sound of its flesh ripping open causing me to gag slightly. This never gets any easier, does it?

Repeating this process twice more, Clementine shudders as I start spreading the nasty stuff all over her face, hands and clothes. The stench alone would topple the biggest man around upon first smelling it, but we've grown accustomed to having to do shit that we really wouldn't want to.

"Just think of it as sunscreen," I remark jokingly, "Are you ready to move?"

One shaky breath from her, and I take it as acceptance. It wasn't really a yes or no question – we need to break into that grocery store. Loblaws… I used to drive past one of these places every time I'd come home from work. They were pretty nice stores back in the day.

There's also a Tim Horton's not too far down the street. Man, we must be closer to Canada than I had thought we were…

"Here we go…" I whisper, forcing Clementine to her feet and leaning heavily on my shoulder in order to not attract too much unwanted attention to ourselves. I don't want to risk getting caught because of having to carry this pain-ridden girl into the grocery store. I know that it hurts, but it's only crossing the street.

We've been through worse shit before.

"Ugh… god damn it…" I hiss, the pain in my stomach becoming more evident as we walk forward. We get about halfway through this small herd, when almost all of them turn towards the two of us.

Shit… they've smelled the blood on me…

"We've gotta run, Clem…" I whisper urgently, even though I know full well that she can barely even walk. "I'll take out the one coming up in front of us, then we sprint to the entrance, got it? Clem?"

Clementine isn't responding at all, which worries the shit out of me. She can't be dying! We're so close – please, I can't lose you now!

Forgetting about our stupid disguise, I take out the walker in front of us with my trusty, old grappling hook. In one sweeping motion, I pull it out of its skull, scoop Clementine back onto my shoulder and sprint ahead; dropping her in pain as we reach the front door. She slams her head against the glass door, which knocks her completely unconscious as I swear under my breath. The stomach wound is pounding, but I've got to get this door open before they reach us.

Something appears to stacked against the front door of the grocery store; probably to keep these guys out. I push all my weight against it, but it only moves a little bit.

Like a tidal wave about to crash into the shore, the walkers clamber along towards us, while I frantically push against the big, metal frame.

They're almost completely on top of us when…

"Yes!" I shout in victory, dragging Clementine ungracefully by her leg and into the grocery store… but a couple of the walkers have fallen in behind us.

Okay, just like Molly would do…

I kick the first one directly in the knee as it stumbles downwards, and I kill the second one before it can reach Clementine – who's spread out unconscious on the dirty ground.

Killing the first guy before it can get back up, I immediately rush to the doorway, chop off three undead hands and forcibly shove the door closed again; huffing as I struggle to hold this thing in place.

It seems that there were numerous old boxes of soup holding that door shut, but it's too heavy for me to just drag it back with my foot.

"One… two… three!" I let go of the door for a brief second before going behind the boxes and shoving it against the door, shaking my head in wonder as two of the monsters get their heads caught inside.

"Don't these things ever quit?!" I wonder aloud, ending both of their lives and shutting the rest of them out for good.

The windows are only tinted from the outside, so I can see their gangly forms banging their undead limbs in a desperate attempt to eat their food, but they won't get it.

At least not today.

Huffing in utter exhaustion, I sink to the floor and hold my hands over my eyes to rest for just a moment. That was indeed a close call. Hopefully those will happen a lot less often.

Nate… the bastard's finally out of the picture, but it seems that it was far too late. Too many people died needless deaths over that asshole – people that we'll never see again.

Kenny, wherever you are, I hope you're somewhat satisfied.

_AN: Alright, I think that I'm going to go with two more chapters before the epilogue._

_But I need to ask you guys this: how would you feel if I gave you three endings? I've got it all figured out and everything, but I can't decide on one that would be enough to satisfy myself or the readers. Personally, I'd love to do three, since not only would you guys be able to pick your favourite, most plausible one, but it would be sort of like episode 5. Don't worry – it's got nothing to do with that episode obviously, since they've already left Wellington at this point. I mean just the fact that it has multiple endings._

_Please let me know in the reviews, thanks guys!_


	19. Reminisce

"_You didn't even try! What the hell's wrong with you?!" Jane screeches at me as Bonnie tosses rocks at my head. _

"_You promised… you're a liar, a coward and a terrible friend..." Sarah whispers into my ear, causing me to thrash side to side looking for the fifteen year old._

"_Just like me… We're essentially the same person inside, Clementine," Carver remarks mockingly; towering overhead as if he's got complete authority. "Don't try to deny it – I know it when I see it."_

"_NO!" I bite back defiantly, sweeping him away with my hands as Nick and Carlos appear before me._

"_Why did you let me die, kid?! How could you have been so careless?!" Nick accuses, flicking me over like a grain of rice as Carlos comes to give me a scolding._

"_Sarah… my daughter's dead because of your actions! I'll never forgive you!"_

"_I'm sorry!" I whimper as the two of them fade into darkness. "I – I didn't mean it…"_

_Two of my dear friends appear next, both boys shaking their heads in sadness._

"_If you were fast enough, then I'd still be here. Did those games we played mean nothing to you?!" Duck insinuates, causing my eyes to water in anguish. I never wanted Duck to die!_

"_You could've stopped Kenny from killing me, but you didn't. You sat there and watched!" Ben states with a voice crack, causing my stomach to turn to knots._

"_I loved you guys… I'm so sorry this happened to you…"_

"_You think any of that is good now?!" Kenny snarls along with Carley, who's just magically appeared beside him. "We helped save your ass more times than we could count! And for what?! So that you can sit there and let everyone you cared about die?! You think that just because you're a little girl, that you can just get people killed and no one will care?! That because you're "sorry" it'll all magically go away?! That's not how it works! I thought you were raised better than that…"_

"_Kenny… please…" I cry out, trying to place my hand on his arm but with no such luck. My hand goes straight through his ghostly apparition._

"_You're a real piece of work, ain't ya?" Luke says behind me, along with Nate who's jumping around like a giddy teenager. "Runnin' off like that while everyone else stood their ground… We took a bullet for you!"_

"_Ha ha ha ha ha! I love it!" Nate sneers, shooting me in the leg with a pistol. "This is marvelous! Simply marvelous! Ain't it funny how even in death, I still win?!"_

"_Please… stop it…"_

"_He can't do that, Clem," Lilly says, now being the only person in the room. I instinctually reach out to her for a hug, but like Kenny I go right through her._

"_Doesn't work that way… I taught you better than this – starving yourself, getting caught by Nate… Did those two years of surviving together just blow past your skull?"_

_My hands are shaking now, and there's no way of stopping it. I don't even think that I'm in control of my body anymore._

"_Please, Lilly… I can't lose you, too…"_

"_Maybe you should've thought of that before leaving the canoe. I'm disappointed, Clementine…"_

_No… no, it can't be! Everyone I've cared about has either died or left me feeling extremely guilty about my actions. _

_Everyone except…_

"Clementine!"

Fluttering my eyes open and waking up in a cold sweat, my sight adjusts to the environment surrounding me. Dark room, shelves everywhere, a small campfire… where am I? I don't remember getting here… in fact, I barely remember anything at all aside from Nate…

Oww….

Clutching onto my wound painfully, I turn my head to see who's talking to me. At first, all I see is a silhouette on the other side of the fire, but then I see the last person that I expected to be alive.

"L-Lee?!" I exclaim quietly, widening my eyes in surprise. "What… how are you…"

"It's just a bad dream, sweet pea."

Sitting up straighter, I wince as my wound contracts painfully with the movement. Taking a bullet… I forgot how much that hurts.

"Where's – "

"Dead," he explains quietly, folding his hands together and bending down slightly. "Nate's gone, don't worry. He won't be able to hurt you anymore. I took care of it. And don't worry about the bullet – it went clean through. It'll burn for a while, but you'll be fine."

Sitting in silence for a moment, I try to absorb everything that's happened. We're in some sort of grocery store by the looks of things, but that's not the important thing.

Who's still alive?

"Is Kenny… no…" I whisper sadly, watching as Lee's gaze lowers. He seems slightly more impacted by it than I thought he would be.

"I found him in Wellington with the rest of them… he's gone, Clem. Kenny, Jane, Mike and Bonnie… I couldn't find any survivors."

Rubbing my eyes, I shudder as the memories of that horrible day flood back to me. I hated myself for leaving, even though it was Lilly and Kenny who _told _me to go. If I had stayed, would none of that have happened?

If I had turned myself over to Nate, would all of my friends still be alive?

"Why would Nate do something like this?" I ask him, noticing that my stump is back. Thankfully, though, it looks as though Lee had set it up near my makeshift bed. I'm going to have to try and put it back on… and that may be a little difficult.

Seeming to know what I was looking at, Lee slowly walks over towards me and tries his luck with the prosthetic; rolling up the cuff of my jeans and putting my leg inside.

"Clem," he tells me, cringing as I wince in pain as he starts to work on it. "Sometimes, people don't always make sense."

"How come?" I probe, feeling like the inquisitive little girl that I used to be. I remember how I'd used to pepper this man with similar questions all the time back then.

Coughing violently, Lee shakes his head and pauses for a moment. I wonder if something happened to him recently – he looks as though he's hurting as well.

"Bad things happen to everyone… And it's hard to keep being yourself after they do," he explains, tightening some of the straps. "Does that feel a little bit snug? I'm kind of having trouble with this because of my arm."

"It's good, thanks," I tell him, with Lee nodding as he continues to try and fix it. I help him as he works. "I can't believe they're gone… I'm not sure if I made the right choice – doing what Lilly and Kenny said and just leaving like that."

Expecting an answer telling me that I made the right choice, and that my safety was the most important thing, I'm surprised when he gives me something else.

"Well, it's not like math, Clem," he says, shimmying the fake foot so that it's straight when we go to tighten the rest of it. "Sometimes there's not always a right answer."

"I hate math."

"Heh… me too, sweet pea."

It's weird, but Lee's treating me… differently. Not in a bad way at all, obviously, but it's almost as if he's seeing me as more of a friend than just some kid he needs to take care of. Perhaps it's the bond we've developed (a strained one at that), or maybe Lee's finally starting to see me as more mature. I've got the personality of an adult now.

"Part of growing up is doing what's best for the people you care about," he continues, as if reading my mind. "Even if sometimes… that means hurting someone else."

"I… I've hurt too many people already. I don't want to hurt anyone else…" I say sadly, watching as he tightens the last of the straps so they won't come loose (hopefully).

With his big, brown eyes he looks up at me with the saddest expression I've seen on him in a while.

"It's not that easy."

Lee… he knows that better than anybody. I can see it in his eyes – he still hasn't fully forgiven himself for everything that's happened.

"Well, that's all I can manage, unfortunately," Lee announces, standing up to examine our handiwork. "Once we find a safer place, then we might be able o take some more time with that thing. Could you try walking on it?"

"Sure," I agree, stumbling at first, but walking with this fake foot is just like riding a bicycle – you never forget how to do it. "Feels pretty good. Thanks, Lee."

"Don't mention it. How's about we have a look around here? There's gotta be _some _food left."

….

"Canned goods section," I announce, looking at the sign that hangs above our heads. There aren't a whole lot of food items for us to take, as we've already checked a bunch of other aisles that must have gotten raided a long time ago. "Think any of this stuff is still edible?"

"It's worth a shot," Lee says, reaching the higher shelves while I go for the lower ones. "Canned pears… there's a whole bunch of them back here. Why did people leave all this stuff behind?"

"One man's trash is another man's treasure," I reply simply, smiling sheepishly at Lee over how corny that sounded. Hey, I'm trying to lighten up the mood a little bit, alright?

As for my end, I can see (what else?) more cans – a few handfuls of soup cans, vegetables, spices, canned meats (expired no doubt), as well as some juice cans. And… score! There's a pudding can just down this row a little bit. Lee seems to notice it too, and I Iook up at him to see if he wants it.

Chuckling, he shakes his head and encourages me to go for it.

"How about we share the thing?" I tell him, placing the can into our little pile that we've created. What a haul we've scrounged together! "This seems too good to be true…"

"I was thinking the same thing," Lee muses, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "I wonder if anyone lives here… I'll be right back."

Walking down the aisle, I'm left to my thoughts and the various sources of food that we've collected.

"If someone lived here," I point out, picking up a can of tuna in disgust and toss it back into the pile, "Don't you think we'd have heard them by now? Or, at least _you'd _have heard them?"

"Can't ever be sure these days," he replies simply, continuing to look around. He gets to the very end of the canned goods aisle, looks a little bit to his right… and freezes. His eyes go wide, his mouth hangs open slightly, and I can faintly hear one sentence uttered from his mouth:

"Oh my god…"

"Lee?" I ask, hobbling over towards him as he snaps out of it and turns to me; horror written on his features. "What's going – OOF! What are you doing that for?!"

"Clem, don't look over there, alright? Just… I don't want you to have to see that…"

Being as stubborn as a damn mule, I pretend to turn around before quickly crawling between his legs and out behind him.

"Clem don't – "

I puke in my mouth at the horrific sight, and suddenly I really wish that I had just listened to Lee like he told me.

It's the frozen food section – five people have hung themselves from the meat hooks, while a handful of others are rotting together in the corner, already having been put down. There could be more inside, but I can't be sure from over here.

"We need to check them for weapons…" I mention quietly, feeling Lee place his hand upon my shoulder. "They might have something we can use."

Nodding silently, Lee goes on ahead; insisting that he be the first one to enter the back room as I follow along behind him.

"Do you think they were all bit?" I ask as he opens the door, releasing a toxic smell that immediately causes me to plug my nose in disgust. It looks as though their whole group is sitting inside of here – all dead and decaying.

"Could've been," Lee acknowledges, bending down to grab a gym bag out of the grip of one unfortunate man that blew his brains out – the gun is still in his cold, dead hands. "Some of them must have figured that hanging themselves would keep them from turning… poor bastards…"

A couple of the guys who hanged themselves reanimated, and are swinging their arms around mindlessly as they see us come inside. This is so sad… I can't help but feel bad for everyone in here. If I was one of those CSI agents like on that show that my parents used to watch, then I'd want to try and find out exactly what happened to these guys. Hell, I did tell Lee that I wanted to be a police officer, after all.

Of course, I don't think any cop had to deal with cases of the undead. That'd be worth a promotion for sure.

That pile that I had seen earlier was bigger than I thought it was. I can count at least seven bodies over there… these folks must have tried to prevent it from happening to the rest of them. But if this was any indication, they weren't successful. In the end, the dead always win.

"This guy kept a journal," I say to Lee, who seems to be lost in his own little world. "Most of the pages are torn out, though."

The guy that wrote this must have lost his mind, as almost every scrap of paper in here reads the same thing: No Hope Left. It explains how he was the last of his group to survive this shit… The last entry goes into some detail about what happened.

_No Hope Left…_

_That's become literal, now. I'm dying – same way as all of my close friends. George came back to life today… bit me right in the arm before I put a bullet into his head. I don't think that I'll have much time left after writing this, so to whoever reads my last thoughts – take solace in knowing that you may not suffer the same fate that we have. _

_I've decided to just end it before it happens… I've seen so many people die, so many close friends embrace death… They're coming for me now. _

_I thought that I had wanted this – we did unspeakable shit for so long, and every day I had just wanted it to be over so that I wouldn't need to go through any more guilt. But now that it's happening… I'm scared. God damn, I'm frightened. _

_To whoever finds this: take our stuff if you need to. You'd certainly need it more than me. Especially considering where I'm going: nowhere. I refuse to leave this room. It'd be a dishonour to their memories, even though a bunch of them are all blood-sucking demons of whom I feel terrible for. I don't want to go out like that. End their suffering, please… I beg you. Don't make the same mistakes that we did. _

_No Hope Left…_

"You're at peace, now," I say to the long-dead man resting against the wall. Lee's already taken out the walkers that hanged themselves by the time I finish reading, so we silently begin taking anything else we might be able to use.

"We must've been the first ones to come here after they died," Lee concludes sadly, handing me a screwdriver in case it comes in handy. "Let's gather up our stuff and head back. What do you think about… leaving this place behind? After we rest up a little bit?"

Nodding slowly, I follow him out of the cold storage; taking one last look inside before shuddering and returning to our miniature camp site.

….

"My parents used to take me shopping at the Loblaws near our house," Lee reminisces sadly as he pushes a shopping cart around… with sitting inside because I wanted to have a little fun for a change. I smirk slightly as we speed down the aisle, with the wind blowing past my face as we ride. "They'd never make my brother go – just me. I used to get ticked off about that. I just figured that he got all the attention, all the toys, and got out of everything that he didn't want to do."

"I used to always want a sister," I admit softly, smiling at the thought of Sandra and I. "My babysitter, Sandra, and I… we'd used to pretend that we were secret sisters. It was… stupid kids' stuff."

"Doesn't sound stupid to me," Lee remarks, pulling off donuts with the cart that make the wheels screech slightly. "Being the older sibling – it's kind of funny, actually. You tease them, make fun of their stupid haircut. _Give _them the stupid haircut… on purpose…"

"What did you do?" I ask, giggling slightly as he shoves the cart down some more.

"I must have been eight or nine at the time, but I got the funny idea of taking my mom's scissors and cutting his hair. I told him that it looked good, but in reality it looked like he got run over by the lawnmower."

"Aha, really?"

"Yep," he says, smiling sadly as he remembers moments of his youth. "Really makes you put things into perspective, doesn't it?"

Slowing down, I quietly help myself out of the cart and join him over by the fire; plopping a milk crate down as I sit beside him.

"I wish that I had been there more… after I left home for college," he sighs, rubbing his tired eyes with his fingers. Secretly, I'd always wanted to go to college, but I doubt that I'll ever get that chance. "Bud was helping out with Mom and Dad at the pharmacy back in Macon. They'd call me all the time to see how I was doing, but I hardly ever respond. I guess that I'd wanted so badly to live out on my own that I forgot about the important stuff… Makes me feel like shit knowing what happened to them."

"I had to put my brother down outside the pharmacy," Lee explains, surprising me as I hadn't even known about that. That must have been horrible for him. "Couldn't even say goodbye, and then when Lilly told me about dragging an older couple out… I felt empty inside. I don't even know _how _they died, let alone where they were. And I felt like giving up, right then and there. But… then you came along."

I squeeze his hand in support as he tears up a little bit. That's it, Lee – let it all out.

"You kept me going for all that time, you know that, Clem? I didn't want to make the same mistakes with you that I did with my family… I couldn't bear to mess up like that again. You gave me another chance, so thank you."

This is what I really like about Lee – he's helpful when he needs to be, and always willing to talk to you if you're close to him. I missed having these kinds of conversations with him; Lee always knew how to make things better, even in the darkest of times.

"Lee?"

"Yeah, sweet pea?"

"Please don't leave me again… I don't want to lose you…"

Feeling his firm hand squeeze mine back, I know that as long as he's able, that he won't abandon me.

Our bond that we used to have is back, and I think now it's stronger than ever.

_AN: Alright, so I've got one more chapter before the epilogue… and I've decided to go with three endings. I unfortunately won't be continuing this after this story, as school's coming up and I've killed off plenty a character so far. Plus, I really don't want to give you guys a half-assed fourth addition to this series without any heart like the rest of them have, but I think that a trilogy should suffice._

_So with that in mind, I hope you guys liked this little chapter of Lee and Clem kind of trusting each other again. Please review and I'll be writing the next one as soon as I'm able to! Ciao! _


	20. Fields of gold

"_Don't look back, Clem…" Lilly tells me, grasping onto my hand as a sob escapes my throat every once in a while. "Just stay with me, alright? We're gonna be fine."_

"_W-we should have gone back for him… Lee… my parents!" I wail loudly, causing Lilly to shush me even though she's trying her hardest not to cry as well. I didn't think that she and Lilly were ever that close._

_Duck looks like his soul got sucked out of his system by a vacuum cleaner. I've never seen him so down before… He's not crying, though. No, Duck looks as though he's run out of tears at this point. Now all that's left is a tired, scared little boy who'd want nothing more than to just crawl into a hole and die._

"_Shh, I know it's tough, Clem. But you need to pull through! There's no time to be upset!"_

_Lilly and I have never really interacted much up until this point, as she's probably used to yelling at Ben most of the time… wherever he is. She's a lot less comforting than Lee is (was), and I'd give anything for him to catch up to us. _

_But Lee… he's gone! My parents… they're gone, too! It… it's so horrible! How could this have happened?!_

_I'm pretty sure that Lilly's in way over her head, trying to look after two sad kids, but at least she's trying. I don't even know how I have the strength to stand anymore…_

"_There's nothing left for us here," Lilly concludes, slightly angry as she frowns. "Damn it! Where the hell do we even go?!"_

_Neither Duck nor I have the knowledge or will to provide her with an answer to that, so she grunts and starts escorting us out of this horrible city. She mutters something about getting to the countryside for now, but I tune her out. My thoughts are clouded with sadness and misery… How am I ever going to bounce back from this?_

I never once thought that I'd ever be in the position that I'm in right now. Not even in my wildest dreams did I think that here, at the end of all things, would it just be Lee and I as the only ones left. How the hell did we manage to overcome all of these odds… all hundreds of those moments where we cheated death and prolonged our lives for another day? Is it fair that _we _get to live while so many others have died?

But people die every day, I keep telling myself. There's no prejudice – if it comes for you, then you just have to accept it and hope for something better than the hand you've been dealt. It's not selfish of me that I want to keep living now that Lee's back in my life. Perhaps there _could be _some beautiful afterlife thing that we're missing out on – some sort of paradise where you don't have to worry about the walkers or killing or watching your best friends get eaten alive.

I don't want to take that risk just yet, though. I'll stick with what's in front of me for now, and then worry about what comes after when the need arises.

So why am I spewing out all of this philosophical bullshit? Well, I've had some time to reflect on the past three years while sitting in this spooky, old grocery store. There isn't exactly a whole lot to do while Lee prepares us to leave, other than me placing the cans inside of the gym bag that we managed to snag in that freezer room. Nobody could live in a place like this… not when you know that there are dead bodies just sitting there right in the next room. Sure, dead people walk around all the time now, but this is different. Kenny always used to mutter something about not shitting where you sleep – I suppose this qualifies.

Having finished packing the cans a while ago, I sit near the fireless pit (although the coals are still glowing) and occasionally watch as Lee goes over a map of the surrounding area.

"If I'm reading this correctly," Lee muses, pointing to a certain point on the map, "Then we're close to the US-Canada border. Windsor's on the other side of it, or we could turn back to Detroit. What do you think we should do?"

"I don't think we should go to the city," I inform him, reminding the both of us about how bad Atlanta and Savannah were. "But… would it be safer in Canada?"

"Hard to tell… certainly won't find that much food up there at this time of year. You could make the argument that it'd be safer, at least. We've got plenty of lakes to choose from, so water shouldn't be a problem. Hmm… what about if we go right up to the border and – "

"What about Lilly? And Luke?" I ask nervously, still holding onto the small hope that somehow they may have made it out of there. "Maybe they got out of there! We shouldn't move too far away… doesn't that make sense?"

"Clem…"

"…if we just give up on them, then… we just can't, Lee! You said that you didn't see either of them at Wellington. Maybe Nate didn't get to them!"

"Even if that were true," he sighs, bearing the same saddened expression he uses whenever he's breaking the bad news to me, "it would take a miracle for them to find us out here. There's almost no way for them to even _try _to track us down, sweet pea. But… we'll find something close by. We'll find a place to hold up for a while, but if they're not coming, then we move on. Sound fair to you?"

Nodding quietly, I huff out a sigh and figure that that's the best we can do. Thinking it over some more, I conclude that Lee's right as usual. It's not as if we'd left a trail of breadcrumbs behind us.

But we could do something else…

"What if we made one of those signal fires when we get there?" I suggest, listening as the sounds of the walkers outside get more intense. They haven't let up all night.

Swinging the gym bag over his shoulder, Lee motions for me to come with him as our blockade on the door slowly starts to give way.

"Must have smelled us in here," he remarks, cursing under his breath. "We can sort that out later, Clem. We've gotta move now!"

Hearing the walkers even more so now, the two of us move through some of the darkened aisles hoping to find some sort of back exit in this place. They must have had a fire escape in the grocery store, right? I mean, what kind of place wouldn't have –

"BACK! GO BACK!" Lee yells, practically dragging me by the collar of my jacket. Three of the walkers are at the end of the cereal aisle; slowly trudging towards us hungrily.

"How'd they get in here already?!" I ask while breathing heavily; my heart pounding against my chest.

"No idea!" Lee replies, noticing that the front entrance is almost completely open now, and the walkers are starting to pour in. "Shit! Help me find a way out of here, alright? I'll keep them off of us; just get us out of this place!"

Slicing his way through two more of the monsters, I bite my lip in fear and anxiety as I desperately try to see if there are any openings. The checkout counters are over on the right side, then the aisles and the frozen food section… personal grooming products down further, along with some magazines… Laundromat… man, these guys had everything here!

"Clementine!" Lee shouts, killing another walker and dislodging the hook, "Did you find anything?!"

"Nothing!" I retort, snapping me back to the task at hand. "Oh, wait! Maybe… this way! This way!"

Hobbling over to the back corner, I shriek as a walker manages to get the jump on me – Lee still hasn't caught up to me yet. Fumbling with the gun in my pocket, I back up until I hit one of the shelves; sending boxes down to the floor and hitting the walker in the head. That's incredibly lucky for me, as it gives me enough time to pull the pistol out and shoot the walker directly in the head.

"Lee! Come on!" I yell for the man, watching as he sprints away in fear as the herd of walkers stumble behind him. Immediately realizing that we're at a huge disadvantage, I try my best to push open the emergency exit… but it doesn't budge.

Oh shit.

"Clem!" he pants, sliding over to me on the floor, "What's with the hold up? We've gotta move!"

"It's stuck!" I cry out, putting all of weight into the door in a vain attempt to get it open.

"Here," he says, quickly switching places with me as he latches the hook in the side of the door. "I'll work on this - just keep those walkers off of me!"

"Okay…" I say nervously, not because I can't kill a walker, but because I don't have enough bullets to take all of them down. I'll just have to make every shot count…

_Bang! Bang! _

There go two of them…

_Bang!_

Three…

"LEE!" I shriek, not meaning to yell at him but still in a state of panic. "IS IT OPEN YET?!"

"Just… about… got it!" he yells, kicking the door open as he unlocks it. The chilly wind blows against our faces as we step outside; not stopping for anything as we frantically try to escape our pursuers. They shouldn't be as fast out in the cold, but –

Damn it…

"We've got company!" I yell out, noticing that there were some more of these walkers out by the dumpsters – probably looking for a tasty meal in the garbage.

Looking in both directions, Lee quickly motions for us to bank a right and push our way through out to the road. All the walkers in the area are trying to eat us now, and we're on the run. This couldn't get any better.

….

"Oh… come on, man!" I wheeze, shaking my head in exhaustion as we notice that the walkers are still coming after us. We've been moving for a damn hour, and quite a few of them haven't stopped their pursuit. "Lee… how much further?"

"Still got a few miles ahead of us, but we'll make it, kiddo. Don't worry."

"That's what you always say!"

Glancing back behind him for a brief moment, a faint smirk appears on his lips as he shakes his head. It's nice to have some of the old Lee shining through every once in a while.

The good thing about the distance we've covered is that we no longer have to run – since the walkers are pretty much moving at a snail's pace. That doesn't mean that we can ever stop to catch our breaths, however, and my leg and shoulder are still sore as hell. I can see that Lee's still in pain as well, but he assures me that he took care of that nasty cut on his stomach. I swear, I've got half a mind to go back to Nate just so that I can kill him again. Lee hasn't told me anything about what happened to him, other than that he's dead, but I hope the asshole got what he deserved.

I'd write down a list of all of the casualties caused by that madman, but I'd probably run out of paper if I wrote them all down.

"Shit, there's a fork in the road up ahead," Lee swears, kicking one of the road signs in anger. "And of course, the map doesn't show which route to take."

Turning towards me, he gives me one of those stares where I have to make a decision of some kind.

"What do you think we should do?"

"Well…" I begin, slightly unsure of myself, "My dad always used to tell me to trust my gut whenever I'd get stuck on something, so… let's go right. That way has lots of open fields and things like that. It'll be easier to see any walkers that get the jump on us."

"Your dad taught you well," he compliments, patting my back as I'm reminded of him. It always leads me back to Savannah in my mind… "Right it is, boss lady. We'll find something in no time with you in charge."

"I'm the boss?" I question, catching up to him and quirking an eyebrow.

"Don't let it get to your head."

"Too late! You have to do what I say now, ha ha!"

"I think I've made a terrible mistake…"

…..

Perhaps I was wrong about going right… I didn't realize at the time that the wind would pick up so rapidly over the farm land. Lee chuckles and tells me that the faster we get through this, the faster we can find shelter.

I'm starting to question whether or not Lee just made the whole thing up… Maybe that's just the pessimism talking, but I don't know.

"Have you ever been to a farm?" I ask inquisitively, grunting in pain as the prosthetic starts to hurt my leg. Walking on this for long periods of time is always a pain in the ass.

Noticing this almost immediately, Lee scoops me up with one arm and throws me over his shoulder; despite my protests.

"Let me down, you big lug! I can walk by myself!"

"You keep telling yourself that, pumpkin," he calls back, whistling as if he's done nothing wrong. Oh that does it – I'm so pranking him when we find a place to stay! "You're the eyes at the back of my head, alright? Holler if you see any walkers coming towards us."

"Just for that," I comment sarcastically as I huff in annoyance, "I'm not going to."

"As for your first question," he continues, completely ignoring my snide remarks, "yeah, my brother and I used to spend a week every summer up at my grandparents' farm. It wasn't ever too exciting – no barn animals or any of that. But my grandpa always used to let us drive the tractor with him… at least until Bud and I were dicking around on it and crashed into the barn. After that, it kind of stopped."

"Did you two get into trouble all the time?" I ask, noticing that a lone walker was walking aimlessly among the frost-covered field . Perhaps he was one of the farmers, but I can't be sure. He's no threat to us from over here, so I don't say anything. "By the way, it's really uncomfortable back here. Can I walk now?"

In good old Lee fashion, he declines and practically forces me to sit on top of his shoulders while he tries to wrap his arm around my right leg so that I don't fall off. So much for looking behind him, but the both of us can see that there's no way any of them can sneak up on us out here – not when we can see miles in every direction.

"I was usually the troublemaker in the family – Bud was just an _angel _in my parents' eyes," he replies, not bitterly but with a slight shrug. "Whenever something went wrong, they'd just assume that I had somehow convinced him to do it. It was like he had a force field around him."

"So… your brother was behind all the trouble?"

"…not usually, no…"

The two of us share a long overdue laugh together – it's been a long time since I could just have a normal, friendly conversation with the big guy. Most of the time it was either about surviving, regrets about our actions, or just unloading a shit-ton of feels onto each other (them feels!).

"_You are now exiting Wellington County,_" Lee reads aloud as we pass the sign and he places me down again after another hour of walking. The snow has stopped (thankfully), but that wind chill is sinking in harshly. I've already complained three times about how damn cold it was up on his shoulders, thinking that somehow it would convince him to let me walk. But _noooooo_, Lee just kept saying how I needed to rest my foot. I appreciate how the way that he was letting me do things for myself earlier, such as shooting the walkers and picking which direction to go in, but sometimes… I feel as though he still sees me as that eight year old girl that he met so long ago.

Things have to change.

"Remember how you were saying about that signal flare earlier today?" he questions, continuing as I nod my head slowly. "Well, they might not exactly be flares, but… I figured we could maybe use these."

As he opens the gym bag, I peer inside and shake my head in amazement at how he could've possibly found these. Black Cat firecrackers… yes, that might do the trick.

"Where did you get these?" I ask, holding the box in my hands and reading the warning labels. NOT FOR USE BY PEOPLE UNDER SIXTEEN YEARS OF AGE. What, did teenagers suddenly just magically become responsible after sixteen? As I recall, Ben was at least in his late teens or early twenties, and I was more responsible than him when I was eight years old.

"I found them tucked away in an aisle before you woke up," he explains as I hand it back to him, "There's only three of 'em though, so I figure that we should set one off here and then two more up ahead. We need to be extra careful with these though, okay?"

"Lee, I can handle it," I tell him, softening my tone when the old man gives me a stern look. "I'll be careful, I promise. I won't launch it at your face or anything."

"That's not what I was concerned about…" Lee sighs, shaking his head and opening up the cardboard box. I don't really know how these things work, so I wait for Lee's permission before trying anything. I'd rather not have my fingers burned off by not doing anything.

"Do we even have a lighter?" I ask, realizing that mine ran out long ago and is probably sitting among the rubble of Wellington right now.

To my surprise (and slight disappointment as he pulls out a package of cigarettes), Lee pulls out a red-coloured lighter and beckons for me to follow him into the field.

"Lee… when did you start smoking?" I ask, scolding him as if I'm his mother. "You know those things are bad for you, right?"

"Started after I lost Molly," he explains sadly, as if he kind of regrets doing it. "Hell, Clem. What did I have to lose at that point? I would take any amount of comfort that I could get, at least until I found you and Lilly at Wellington. I guess that I just never got rid of them – hey!"

Before he can do anything, I snatch the carton out of his hand and dump the contents out into the snow; kicking the powdery substance over top of them as he nods in acceptance. He'd quit for me, even if I was really up front about it and had to forcefully get rid of them.

"Let's light this thing and get a move on…" I comment, suddenly not quite as enthusiastic as I was a little while ago.

Silently getting to work, Lee lowers the firecracker to the ground; propping it up with a small stand that came included cheaply with the box. Honestly, the thing looks so flimsy that it'll probably topple over after we set the first one off, but it's our only chance of possibly letting Lilly know where we are (if she's even still alive).

Flicking the lighter, Lee lights the little rope at the end of the firecracker and steps back towards me. I close my ears as the loud thing fires off, shooting into the sky and creating a beautiful red glow that spreads up in the sky. I've got to admit – this is pretty special.

"Merry Christmas, Clementine," Lee suddenly says, wrapping an arm around me as we stay there until the smoke starts to float away on the wind.

"What?"

"Yeah, I'm not exactly sure if it's the right date or not, but I was looking at a calendar that they had in the grocery store," he explains, shrugging his shoulders. "Figured that we ought to at least celebrate when we settle down somewhere."

"Oh… does that means Santa's not gonna come?" I ask innocently, giggling and elbowing Lee in the ribs as he gets an 'I Don't Know What to Say' face. "You're pretty easy to mess around with, you know that?"

"I think _you're _the troublemaker here, not me."

….

The second firecracker that we had set off… didn't go without incident. It was almost comical in a way, as that stupid stand for it broke like I said it would, and Lee and I had to take cover as it zoomed past our heads and up into the sky. I swear that thing had a mind of its own.

But none of that matters now.

Here Lee and I stand; face to face with either our salvation, or certain death. A whole bunch of walkers line the street directly blocking our way through to our destination: the little apartment complex. When I say little, I mean it. The thing's only three stories high, with no boarded up windows and a small parking garage that probably could only fit like five cars at the time.

Lee seems to think that this little village (it doesn't even have a name since it's so small) would be perfect for us to stay in, as many of its occupants left when the news about the outbreak first started. It's along the waterfront again, and as far as we can tell there aren't any bandits this time around. The place would be a ghost town if not for these damn walkers.

But we have a choice to make.

"The way I see it, we've got three options," Lee whispers, shuddering as he gazes down at the monstrosities. "One: we try to sneak around them and shimmy up the fire escape ladder, which is right over there."

He points to a black, rickety-looking ladder that reminds me of the ones in Savannah. Man, I hated that city!

"Two," he grimaces, clutching Molly's grappling hook in his hand, "We go in there and try to fight our way through. We can't use bullets, but you've still got that screwdriver that I gave you, right?"

"Yeah…" I tell him, twirling the thing around slowly in my hands.

Nodding heavily, Lee bites his lip and pauses while closing his eyes.

"What's option three?" I question, looking up into his brown orbs.

"Three is that we cover ourselves in their guts, and try our luck at walking through there undetected."

"So what's the problem? It seems pretty obvious to me!" I remark, with Lee telling me to keep my voice down as a walker looks over towards our hiding spot. All that stands between us and them right now is an exposed transformer that used to power this place.

"We're… not going to be able to bring the food with us," Lee explains, shaking his head sadly. "They'll notice us in an instant, with the jingling of crap we've got in here. We need to fit in. Plus, they might be able to smell the food on us anyways."

"Shoot…" I murmur, looking down at the ground. "Is there any way for us to turn back?"

"No, we'll freeze to death if we turn back now. This was our last shot at… living, really."

"Then we're caught between a rock and a hard place."

"You can say that again," Lee acknowledges, sighing and looking back out onto the street for just a few moments. He then turns towards me with a more confident look on his face. "Whatever you want to do, I'm with you, Clementine. You've got a good head on your shoulders, and I'll follow whatever you decide."

"We're a team," I smirk, nodding as we do a little fist pump like the couple of bad asses that we are. "Teams stick together."

But now comes the hard part; the moment where we either come out of this completely unscathed, or the moment that our journey ends.

Which choice should I pick?

_AN: Okay so the epilogue's next – cut into three parts for your enjoyment. Obviously they'll have to do with the choices Clem makes, but don't worry – the outcomes and endings will be different from one another. I wouldn't just screw with you guys… intentionally, ha ha! _

_I just wanted to take the time to thank my reviewers. You guys have sincerely been my lifeline throughout this entire adventure, and I'm so glad that you guys enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed to write it. I've become more confident in my abilities over the past three stories, and you guys have been the reason why. Your constant encouragement and feedback has done wonders for me, and for that I'm so thankful._

_So a big thanks to all of you! Rebloxic, Opticz, Spiderclone, Apathy, NeoTyson, Kesarkuch, Micidonalboss, BoomBoomBoomer, JayChammy, Bubbles2K100, Aqua Destiny's Embrace, 087-B, Oreo Anarchy, MizukiKitty123, Flare Hedgehog, A Writer with Mixed Interests, Full Power, all of the guests, everyone who faved/followed… Boy, I need a chance to breathe! 151 reviews after nineteen chapters! Holy shit! _

_I'll be sure to try and write some more stuff in the future, but for now just keep on rocking! The last three chapters will be up in the next few days, so thank you all again for the amazing feedback!_

_Leafs Nation _


	21. No time left

"We should try to sneak around," I say to him, making a walking motion with my index and middle fingers. "We need that food, and it might be dangerous trying to take them all on by ourselves."

"Alright," Lee agrees, nodding his head as he lays down the plan. "I'll toss a rock down the road some ways, and while they're distracted we'll make a break for that fire escape ladder. Then we go up and inside. Sound good to you?"

Taking in a shaky breath, I agree as Lee carefully launches a stone on the narrow, paved road, resulting in an echo that's drowned out by the snow.

"It's not working…"

"I'll try to throw one closer towards them," Lee suggests, telling me to get ready to move as quickly as I can.

Why do I have a terrible feeling that things are about to go sideways here?

The rock bounces a few feet away from the walkers, and just like Lee had predicted, they follow the source of the noise – just like moths to a flame.

This is our chance! Lee and I book it down the side of the snowy hill, tiptoe across the road and make our way over to the white-wood fence that surrounds the apartment complex. I would wait for Lee to make some obvious comment about it being pointy or something, but we don't have the time for stupid jokes right now. Lee hops over the fence with relative difficulty, but I just flat-out fall on my face as I try going over in a comical way.

At least it's only Lee that saw me there…

"You alright?" Lee asks, holding out his hand as he helps me to my feet.

"I'm fine," I brush off, trying to make it seem less humiliating than it actually was. Lee's smirking about it, the jerk face… "Let's just get inside before one of them come around."

With a slow screeching sound that causes the both of us to wince in fear, Lee pulls the ladder down to the ground.

"Ladies first," he comments, earning an eye roll from me.

"Such a gentleman," I bite back sarcastically, grasping onto the railings and slowly pulling myself up one by one. The whole mechanism shakes the higher I go, and I can actually feel my breath hitch in my throat on several occasions. If it does this when _I'm _on the ladder, then what's it going to do for Lee?! He's only got one arm! How's he going to –

"I don't mean to push you or anything," Lee whispers, looking around for any wanderers, "but could you hurry up a little bit? We don't have much time…"

"BEHIND YOU!" I screech, pointing to a walker that somehow managed to sneak up on him by crawling through the snow. Lee looks down in a panic as the thing almost chomps down on his leg, but luckily he dodges and kills the thing with the hook. Breathing heavily after his sudden shock, he then turns back towards me.

"Thanks, Clem… I was nearly a goner there!"

"That was too close!" I comment, climbing up more of the rungs until I'm about three quarters of the way up top. All that I have to do afterwards is open the window and climb inside. "Almost got it…"

And _that's _when the ladder starts to make the worst sound possible.

"GO NOW!" Lee bellows, not wanting me to get hurt as the nails start to come off of the wall. As fast as I can manage, I pull myself upwards until I reach the window sill, but I yelp as the whole construct comes down and I'm left hanging by one hand on the ledge.

"Pull yourself up, sweet pea! You can do it!" Lee encourages, but the both of us widen our eyes and slowly turn our heads… as the walkers come around. They must've heard the ladder collapsing over here.

Why do our plans never work?! Not even once!

"LEE! GET OUT OF THERE!" I scream to him, still dangling from the window as my arm starts getting sore. "YOU HAVE TO GET INSIDE!"

"I'll… I'll find a way! Just open the window and get yourself to safety!" Lee commands, turning away out of my sight and not leaving any room for argument. God damn it! Lee should be a magician with the way he disappears!

Not wanting my fingers to slip (as about four walkers are at the bottom just waiting for me to fall to my death), I swing my body a little bit so that I can grab a hold of the window with both hands. Next, with all the strength I can muster, I start to pull myself up and sit myself down on the ledge; not wanting to look down. When the window doesn't budge (of course), I pull out my gun and shoot the glass, despite all the noise that it brings.

My ears are ringing as I stumble inside; the inky blackness of the apartment drowning my senses as I roll over onto my back. I've done it – it's over! Ha ha! Yes! We can finally stop running away all the time! Lee and I can take care of the walkers outside eventually, board this place up and go out on scavenger runs for supplies when we need to… assuming that he actually gets in here.

Once my eyes adjust, I look around at all of the dust and grime of this place. Honestly, this apartment is a dump – even before the apocalypse probably. There are spider webs _everywhere_, dust so thick that it makes me sneeze and enough litter here to fill a tub with.

However, the rest of the place isn't nearly as decrepit as this part.

One floor down (as I came in at the top) there's a few rooms with beds for sleeping in, a crib in case you had a baby with you, and then the ground floor has a fireplace along with a small kitchen area. This could be perfect for staying in. Aside from out on the road, I haven't seen a single walker in here.

Frantic banging and twisting of the doorknob can be heard, so I rush to the front door and allow Lee to sprint inside; closing it just in the nick of time as the walkers try to advance. With my back turned against the wooden frame of the door, I look over at Lee – who's gone straight to the kitchen, dropped the bag of supplies and collapsed against the sink with his head in his hand.

Is he just relieved that we made it this far? Is he just having a nervous breakdown over how close our escape was? Is he just happy that we've made it out relatively okay?

Is he…

"No…" I whisper, my voice cracking as tears flow from my eyes. Blood is trickling down from the lower part of his neck onto his jacket, but he still hasn't turned to face me yet. "No! That's not… No! No, no, no!"

"Yes, Clem… it is…" Lee croaks out, his body shuddering as he shakes his head in disbelief.

"How could this have happened?!" I cry out, burying my face in my hands as I realize what this all means. Lee… my last friend left alive in the whole world… he's going to die. There's no way of cutting around it this time.

Slowly turning back towards me, Lee gives off a sad smile as he tries to hold everything together. He's such a strong person sometimes, I swear.

"Don't go blaming yourself for this, alright sweet pea?" Lee soothes, sitting in a rocking chair as I go to a couch across from him. "This… this was my mistake. The fucker caught me off guard when I ran around back."

"If it hadn't been for me, you'd still be alive…"

"I'm alive right now, aren't I?" he remarks, placing a hand on his knee. "Clem… you're the only reason I managed to make it this long in the first place. I owe my life to _you_. You kept me going this whole time."

Sniffling, I wipe my teary eyes as I examine Lee's face. His tone is genuine, as is his body language. I don't see any fear on him – just acceptance, sadness and hope.

I'm pretty sure that Lee's been waiting for this for a long time – even though he's kept it to himself, deep down I can tell that he's probably asked for this a hundred times. Living with one arm by yourself… no wonder he started smoking. The only thing that kept him going for _two whole years _was the thought that somehow he might see me again.

I should feel good that I've kept his spirits alive this whole time, but I feel awful.

"You know what has to be done, Clementine…"

"No!" I whimper defiantly, oddly reminiscent of this situation two years ago. "We're leaving! All of us! Together…"

"I'd give anything for you not to have to go through this, sweet pea," he says, his voice caught in his throat for just a moment. "But this is the only way…"

"No… you can't leave…"

Sighing, Lee runs a hand through his hair and rocks back and forth in the chair, as if he's a grandfather telling one of his stories of his youth.

"I've lived a long, meaningful life. Forty years long, in fact," he explains sadly, glancing at his reflection in the glass coffee table that rests between us. "I've made some mistakes… done some things that I regret… But you've shown me that it's better to remember the good times, pumpkin. I'm satisfied with what I've accomplished – I'm gonna be alright. Clem… you've still got many years ahead of you, sweet pea. Enjoy all the time that you've got left."

"Everything's gonna be alright," he soothes, walking over towards me on the couch and wrapping his arm around me. I lean into his side for the last time, and cry for my fallen friend. "You'll make it better, Clem. If there's anyone that I know who can make it in this world, it's you."

"Thank you…" I sob, my thin body shaking against him, "For everything, Lee… I… I love you so much…"

"Ditto, kiddo. I love you too. I'm gonna miss you so much," he says, planting a kiss on top of my head as he rubs comforting circles on my back.

This is the Lee that I choose to remember – the kind, loyal, caring father-figure that he truly is and was. The man who, when I needed it, would stay awake with me at the motor-inn whenever I woke up from a nightmare about my parents. The man who taught me how to shoot a gun properly, and the guy who always convinced me to keep my hair short. The man who would've given his own life just so that I could stay safe.

The man who I consider to be my adoptive Dad.

Lee… there's nobody else like him – nobody can truly replace the gaping hole that he'll leave behind. I only hope that I've earned the honour of being so close to him.

"There's no time left, Clementine," Lee whispers shakily, embracing me tightly one last time before returning to the rocking chair. His skin is already starting to look lighter, and even though I'd rather have him spend more time with me, I know that that wouldn't be fair to him. I won't make him have to go through any more pain than he needs to. "I've… I've run out of road."

"Then… I guess this is it…" I say, pulling out the pistol at my side and setting it down in my lap. "Oh god… I don't think I can…"

"Clem… _cough_…. Can you promise me something?"

I look up through my teary eyes and nod. "Sure… anything…"

"Promise me… that you'll keep on trying to survive," he says, smiling slightly towards me. "Make sure you take care of yourself, and keep on living."

"I will – I promise, Lee."

"Good… good," he smiles again, ready to accept his fate. "Okay, Clementine… goodbye…"

"Goodbye…" I choke out, tears blurring my vision as I raise the gun in front of me, "…Lee…"

Time stands still for a moment, as all falls quiet except for our breaths. All background noise is drowned out – it's just Lee and I here now.

Even in the end, it's him and I.

_BANG!_

I drop the now-empty pistol and collapse onto the floor in a fit of sobs.

…..

Two days later is when I finally come outside that apartment; sick to death of torturing myself in there by looking at Lee. There wasn't any way of me moving him from there, and something tells me that he'd want to be comfortable even in death.

I think there are permanent tear stains on my cheeks, even though the tear wells dried up a while ago. If I'm to keep my promise to Lee, then I can't let this stop me. I need to keep moving.

But today, I need to do something to honour my fallen friends – all of them.

The walkers disbanded a while ago, probably having given up on me even being in the apartment. I don't know where they went, but as long as they don't come back then I don't really care. I don't have any bullets left in my pistol – the last of which had been used to put Lee out of his misery. The only things that I have to defend myself with are the screwdriver and Molly's old grappling hook. I'm pretty sure this thing's going to pass the test of time.

When I'm absolutely sure that there aren't any walkers around (as I manages to take down two that were down by the waterfront), I set off the last firecracker and hope for the best. That's all I can hope for these days.

But that was about three hours ago now.

I don't have anything to make a memorial for them, so I settle on floating some sticks out into the lake. Yeah, it's pretty lame, I get it. But it means something to me – perhaps I can finally put their memories to rest.

Sitting atop a nearby rock, I curl my knees to my chest and watch for quite some time as the sticks float away wherever the water takes them. Maybe they'll be swept out into the ocean – Jane, Mike, Bonnie, Kenny, Lee… All dead and gone.

I don't plan on staying here for more than another day. It's literally a ghost town here – no food, supplies or anything. I've decided just to stick along the water and try to find another town to scavenge from. Who knows? Maybe I'll get lucky and meet some friendly faces out there.

Although it sure as hell won't replace what I've lost.

"…Clem?"

I nearly fall off the rock that I'm sitting on.

Did I say there weren't any tears left? Well, I lied then, as I sprint over to Lilly and Luke and collapse into their embrace.

I don't question how they could've possibly managed to find me off of firecrackers alone, or how they're even still alive. All that matters is that they're here with me, right now.

Lee would be happy – I won't be alone again.


	22. Armed with death

_Lee's POV_

"Let's take 'em," she says determinedly; her unwavering facial expressions causing me to worry a little bit. It almost looks like she _wants _to kill these things right now.

Maybe it's just her way of coping with loss.

"You're sure about this?" I ask, a bit unsettled at the prospect.

"We need to clear them out anyway," she explains, shrugging her shoulders, "Might as well do this now. Then we don't have to worry about it – at least for a little while."

"We'll have to stick to each other like glue, alright? We'll watch each other's backs, and make sure that we run straight to the apartment if things go screwy. Don't panic, and only use your gun as a – "

"Last resort, yeah I've got it," Clementine acknowledges, patting my arm and making me question why we're going this route at all. Sure, it'll be a hell of a lot quicker just to deal with them now, but won't this just be outing us needlessly in harm's way?

I hope you know what you're doing, sweet pea.

Doing as instructed, Clem stays right on my ass as we go down the snowy hill and start mauling down our enemies. I cover the right side; slicing my weapon into their brains and having it splatter all down my arm. Clementine's on the left; kicking the walkers in the knee before sending them back to their graves with a screwdriver in the face.

I've gotta say: Clementine can handle her own. This is the first time that I've ever fully witnessed what she's capable of doing, and I'm pretty impressed.

But there must have been more of these bastards than I had thought there were.

"Shit…" I mutter, backing up as more of them approach me; blocking off my view from the twelve year old. "CLEM! GET INSIDE! GO!"

The silence sends me into a panic, as I rapidly mow them down with lightning-quick strikes in the hopes of being able to see her again. I shove a walker straight into the arms of his buddy, and then use the hook to kill them both at the same time.

_BANG!_

Looking up, I notice that Clementine has her eyes wide open, sweat beading off of her forehead, and her hands shaking as she continues to hold the pistol in front of her. It looks to me like Clem's in a bit of shock.

"Well, that could've gone better," I remark, going over and bending down to her level. "Last resort, huh? Are you alright?"

I know that her eyes are looking in my direction, but she's not really _noticing _that I'm here. Clem's hyperventilating, and I've never seen her so scared in her life – but she won't say anything. That must have been a really close call.

"Sweet pea?"

"Huh?" Clem says suddenly, as if coming back to planet Earth. She's not looking too good right now. Maybe she's just feeling sick. "Oh, sorry Lee… I, uh, kind of zoned out for a second."

"I could tell," I say with a chuckle, patting her shoulder as I stand up and walk towards the apartment. "Come on inside – I'll make us something to eat, and you can rest up a little bit. You've been through a lot."

Now _that's _a bit of an understatement.

Following along timidly behind me, I turn around once with a slightly concerned frown. Man, does she ever look as though she's about ready to break down. I mean, sure, our plan didn't go exactly according to what we originally thought out, but we made it, didn't we? We're still here, we're still alive! Maybe that's just reminded her of some traumatic experience that's causing her to shut down like this…

But I've never known Clementine to be completely broken – even after she saw her parents die, Lilly had told me how focused she had been in just over a week. I wonder what the problem is?

Seeing that the door's locked, I set to work on the same method that we used in the grocery store – breaking the fucker open. I stick the hook in the side of the door and start to shimmy it about, while Clementine leans her back against the brick wall nearby.

"You sure everything's okay?" I ask her, grunting slightly as I put my weight into it. "You just seem a lot quieter than usual."

Shrugging her shoulders, Clementine tilts her head and watches me work – indicating that she doesn't want to talk about it. That's okay, sweet pea. Whenever you're ready, I'm ready to lend an open ear.

"Aha! There we go!" I announce triumphantly, hearing the lock click open as I swing the door to the side. "Welcome to our humble abode, I guess."

Allowing the lady to have the first look inside, my worry only grows stronger. Clem's trudging along, while not saying or doing much of anything. I had thought for sure that she'd be at least _slightly relieved _that we finally found a safe place. Add to the fact that we managed to bring the food with us, and I'd say that we're going to have a pretty nice set-up here.

Ohh…. I'm so snagging that rocking chair. I used to _love _me some rocking chairs!

"So listen," I start, dropping the bag of supplies down near in the little kitchen set they've got here, "I'll get set on making us dinner and we can just rest easy for the rest of the night. But tomorrow, I was thinking that maybe we should start, you know, boarding up windows and things like that. We'll have our own little fortress here, and maybe after that we can set off that last firecracker together. How does that all sound?"

Nodding quietly, Clementine places her pistol back in her pocket and pulls off a half smile towards me. Taking that as acceptance, and thinking that she probably needs her space, I unzip the gym bag and pull out two cans of chili. That should make for a pretty nice meal, at least, and we've got that fireplace over there which will work perfectly fine. And damn, the things you can do with this grappling hook! No wonder Molly loved it so much…

"I…I think that I'm just… gonna sleep tonight," Clementine says, rubbing her arm whenever she's in a tough situation. But what could be tough _right now? _

"Clem, you need to eat something…" I try to force her, but she just casually waves the idea off. Man, is she ever stubborn! Once she's got her mind set on something, there's no turning her back. "I'll set one aside for you then, in case you change your mind."

"Lee?"

"Yeah?" I ask, looking up from my handiwork just as Clementine wraps her tiny arms around my stomach in a hug; seemingly not wanting to let go. She shudders as a few little sobs almost escape her throat. I bend down to see what the trouble is, but she just wraps her arms around my neck instead. "Whoa, Clem… Is everything alright?"

"Thank you…" she says to me, her voice muffled into my shirt as I feel the tears soaking through. I've just turned into overprotective parent mode. "For… for coming back. For everything…"

"Shh… it's alright, sweet pea. Everything's fine now, see? I haven't gone anywhere," I soothe, rubbing comforting circles onto her back. This feels more like the eight year old Clementine coming back into play – I've noticed the child-like parts of her come out every once in a while. That's a good thing, though, not bad. "You're safe here. You're gonna be just fine."

At this, she just sobs harder and her grip gets more firm. I'm at such a loss here, it's not even funny. What the hell is going on right now?

"What can I tell you to make it better?" I ask her, similar to what I told her in the grocery store.

Surprisingly enough, she shakes her head and places a kiss on my cheek.

"I love you, Lee… god… thank you so much…"

"Umm…" I reply awkwardly, not really sure where this is coming from. "Yeah, I uh, love you too, Clem. I'm glad you're here."

With a teary, genuine smile, she steps back and studies my face for a moment, as I wipe some of the droplets off of her cheeks. I hate to see this kid cry… It makes _me _want to cry, too!

I wonder if this is just hormones starting to kick in… it seems a little early, but Clementine's had to grow up so quickly that I wouldn't really put it past her. I just hope that the birds and the bees conversation can at least wait a couple of years. Jesus, that's gonna be awkward…

After breaking off the embrace, Clementine giggles slightly in embarrassment as she ascends the staircase.

"I'll bring up some food to our room in case you decide that you want to eat," I tell her, slightly disconcerted as she shakes her head.

"No thanks," she replies, grasping onto the railing as the steps creak underneath her, "I'm, uh… I'm gonna sleep in my own room tonight. You… you snore too much."

"Hey!" I retort, chuckling as I open one of the cans of chili. "I'll have you know that – "

But before I know it, Clem's already gone upstairs and out of my sight.

…

Tonight, I ate my meal in complete silence, aside from the crackling of wood as it burned in the fireplace. It was a pretty nice, quiet night, and I do have to say that I make a mean can of beans. But I'd have rather spent it in the company of Clementine. I've eaten enough meals by myself – out in the cold while slowly making my way to a pipe dream called Wellington. Those were the worst nights of my life. I didn't have anyone to talk to, and I'll sadly admit that I had considered on multiple occasions to just end all of my suffering. Can you blame me in that situation though? So bleak, so hopeless… nobody else around to keep your spirits going.

But that all changed once I actually _got _there.

I finally had a real, genuine purpose again! I would look after Clementine (even though to be fair, she really didn't need my help that much), hang out with Lilly, and try my best not to rip apart Kenny limb from limb. That was a suitable life, wasn't it?

Hell, even if it wasn't ideal, I'd still take that any day over being alone again. I don't think I could handle losing Clementine for a third time.

These thoughts rage through my mind as I too retire for the night. The stairs shake and buckle underneath my weight, making me think that perhaps we should start sleeping downstairs just in case something happens. I'll have to talk some plans over with Clementine sometime over the next few days.

I hope she's settling down a little bit now – she seemed really scared and uptight earlier.

Pushing my worries aside for a moment, I lay across a lumpy mattress; looking over at Clem's door and quietly whispering good night to her. I'm just so happy that we can finally start fresh, without having to worry about petty arguments or maniacs like Nate skulking around.

My tired eyes slowly close, and I fall under sleep's embrace.

…at least until I hear a muffled bang go off in the middle of the night.

I sit up quietly, scanning the room and looking for any sign of an intruder lurking about. The light of the full moon illuminates the room in its glow; revealing ever dusty nook and cranny about. But still, I don't see anything as my thoughts drift to Clementine. I wonder if she heard that, too.

However, I realize that it probably was just a walker or something outside, or just a bump in the night that's caused me to get so jumpy. Nothing to worry about, and nothing to wake up Clementine for.

Tomorrow's just another day.

…

As the sun annoyingly crashes its beams into the room, I scrunch up my eyes and tiredly stretch my arms up as I yawn. God damn! I haven't slept that soundly in quite a while!

"Morning, Clem," I call out, not hearing a response though as her door's still closed. Figuring that she's probably still snoozing, I shrug my shoulders and decide to let her catch up on some much-deserved rest.

Besides, we've got a big day ahead of us! Boarding up the windows is probably going to take quite a bit of work.

Making my way down to the kitchen, I figure that a nice, hot can of soup ought to get the girl's attention. If the smell of it wafting up to her room won't do it, then the growling of her stomach probably will.

I sit in front of the fireplace and start to cook the soups gradually.

And I wait.

And wait…

And wait…

Wait…

I wait for two fucking hours – okay, missy, enough is enough! I hope she's not sick, but I need to check on her regardless. I get the feeling that something's not right here. Usually, if I recall correctly, Clementine was always an early bird.

Once again going upstairs, I slowly walk towards Clementine's door; knocking first before I enter.

"Clementine?" I call out, knocking three times before trying again. "Is everything alright in there? I can only keep breakfast warm for so long, you know!"

Not hearing anything at all, I furrow my brow worriedly and slowly open the door.

…

…

I don't make it one step inside before collapsing and puking my guts out onto the floor.

"Oh my god… Oh my god! OH MY GOD!" I cry out, my words slurred and broken as I look upon the sweet, little girl who literally was my entire reason for being. Loud, voice-cracking sobs escape my throat as I crawl my way over. "NO! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO! NOOOOOOO!"

Clementine… my whole world and life… dead. There's a blood-soaked pillow over her face, and a pistol held lifelessly in her hand.

Why?!

"Cle… Clemen…" I sob desperately, lifting off the pillow as if it's a stick of ignited dynamite. The effect was immediate – my throat becomes dry and all of my words come out as tiny, unintelligible squeaks. The bullet ripped through her head and killed her instantly… blood is splattered all over her forehead, but she looks at peace.

I will never be at peace.

Cradling her lifeless body against my chest, I hold her and cry for a solid six minutes straight before finally noticing that there's a note left beside the pillow. Placing her back down gently, I grab the note and begin to read; difficultly as my hand is shaking so much.

There's not much on here, but I don't think I'd be able to control myself if it was too long.

_Lee,_

_I'm so, so sorry… but I had to. I've been bitten, and I didn't have the heart to tell you. I just couldn't… you looked so happy, and I didn't want to destroy all of that._

_I wanted you to have at least one happy time before I died._

_Anyways… this is it. I was strong enough to finish it off myself, and… I didn't want you to have to go through that._

_I love you Lee. I always have, and always will. Never forget that :) _

_Clementine_

My teardrops stain the piece of paper as I scrunch some of it up in my remaining hand.

Clem knew that I wouldn't be able to do it. I always knew that she was a clever one, and as I roll up the bottom of her shirt, I bite my cheek so hard that it bleeds. I can see the bite mark on her; infected and looking incredibly nasty. There was nothing that could've possibly been done for her.

She's… she's gone. Clementine is dead, and I've got nothing left to live for. As I've said many times before, she was my last anchor. There's nothing left to live for.

My eyes scan the pistol on the ground… yes, I am _that _desperate. Call me a coward if you want, but this is too much. This is worse than finding out my whole fucking family died at that god-damned pharmacy.

I hold the gun to my temple, whisper that I'm sorry to Clementine, and…

_Click!_

The worst sound that I've heard ever.

"FUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCKKKKKKKK!" I bellow, throwing the pistol so hard that it smashes through the window and goes crashing to the ground outside. Clementine was a smart cookie – she used the last bullet for herself, knowing that I'd try something once I found out about this. God damn her insight…

I lay on my back and bawl my eyes out for the rest of the morning, hoping that by some miracle she wakes up and tells me that everything's fine; that I've blown this all out of proportion. Of course she doesn't.

I need you Clementine… why'd you have to go?

….

_Two days later…_

I've arrived in Detroit. Yes, I walked all the way there – bringing no food with me. I left that sack of shitty supplies back in the apartment. Maybe if somebody comes across that village, then they'll be able to make better use of it than I will. I don't even give a damn about it anymore…

As depressing as this may sound, I've got nothing left to live for.

That's why I've come here, actually: to finally end my suffering once and for all. If I can't shoot myself in the head, then I can at least end it with a little dignity. I'm sorry, Clementine… I know you probably would want me to keep pushing, to keep trying to live.

But looking back, I haven't lived in a very long time. Two years, in fact.

Hopefully when this is finally done, I'll be able to meet you again – I'd like that very much. Maybe we'll wake up and this whole thing will just be a dream. A fucked up, hurtful, sadistic nightmare. I'd give anything to see that wish fulfilled.

The massive horde of walkers shambling around in downtown Detroit is my target, as I slowly walk forward grasping tightly onto Molly's grappling hook one last time. My gaze is focused – everything besides Clementine and my goal becomes obsolete. I'm a man on a mission, and I'm going to go out fighting.

It's one against a thousand at least, but I'm not afraid. In fact, I don't feel any emotion anymore. I've used up all of my feelings… I buried them when I buried Clementine two days ago.

We went through so much together… yet all I could keep saying to myself is that I failed her. I let her down. I held her back.

But then, I hear her little voice telling me that it's not my fault; that I was there for her when she needed it, and that I'll be able to see her again very soon.

And that little thought – that makes me smile.

I may not make it through this, but I'll be damned if some of them don't go down with me. As my father always used to say: Everetts don't quit.

I can only hope that I've lived up to their expectations.


	23. Sanctuary

"We need to sneak through them," I decide, not seeing how any of these options would classify as 'safe'. That ladder looks like it would collapse almost upon impact, and I'm not feeling quite bold enough to take them all on at once. "Drop the bag… I'd rather get there alive."

"What's the magic word?"

"Really?" I say to him, rolling my eyes as we both share a small laugh. "Fine… _please _drop the bag so that we don't die?"

"Strangest use of the word that I've ever heard," Lee sighs, leaving the bag in the snow. "This sucks… We could really use that food."

"We'll find something else," I encourage, glancing out at the sea of monsters. I'd _really _appreciate it if this went smoothly. "There's gotta be some food left around here somewhere, but – "

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Lee adds, finishing off my sentence as he lures one of the walkers towards us with a rock to its head. Quietly motioning for me to get behind him, I shake my head – but he doesn't seem to notice this. I can do these kinds of things myself, you know! So instead of being an obedient little kid like he wants me to, I pull out my screwdriver and smash it into the eye of one of the walkers before Lee can get to it… Unfortunately taking out its eyeball in the process.

"I think I'm gonna be sick…" I groan, looking disgusted as the eyeball rolls lazily near my foot. Instantly I kick it away and cringe as it makes a squishy sound. So gross.

Lee, for his part, doesn't look too impressed with me, and I sheepishly shrug my shoulders as he glowers at me. "You're lucky that went smoothly," he comments, shaking his head as he starts to cut open the body and shower himself in walker guts.

"You seem like you know what you're doing with these things," I notice, slightly disturbed at how non-chalantly he rubs the stuff on himself.

"I've had a bit of practice," he says, not going into any more detail than that. "Turn around and I'll get your back."

…..

Just stay calm… and everything will be fine. Walk just like a mindless, flesh-eating walker and they won't notice you. Act like you belong, and you _will _belong.

That's what I keep telling myself, at least.

We're in the belly of the beast – surrounded by dozens of walkers as they parade around hoping to find their next meal. Sometimes I wonder if they're just hungry all the time, or if whatever has caused them to come back from the dead is causing them to do this. We still have no idea what _actually causes _this to happen – just that it's inside all of us. Lee seems to think it's some sort of virus or something… as for me, I'm not really sure what to believe anymore.

It's not as if we can just cook up some cure ourselves, am I right?

We slowly make our way towards the parking lot in front of the apartment without incident, although some of the walkers have bumped into us which caused me to go as white as a sheet. Other than that, though, our plan has gone rather smoothly. The hard part's going to be getting us inside without drawing all of their attention on us.

"…stay close to me…" Lee whispers as I fall behind a little bit, causing him to turn his head around to look towards me. "…we'll make it through this. Almost there…"

"Okay…"

Marching through, both of us have our eyes peeled as the front doorway to the apartment comes into view. It's rather dull in colour, with a brown exterior for the brick of the apartment and a greyish door matching the equally-depressing inhabitants outside. However, we don't give two shits about it being fancy – all we need is for it to be safe enough to stay in. Because as Lee said before, turning back now would just be suicide for the both of us.

"Watch my back…" Lee whispers as he slowly makes his way to the door without incident. Doing as instructed, I slowly turn my body 180 degrees so that I can see the rest of the herd.

I swear to god, it looks like a family reunion out here. I mean, they all look… the same now! Their faces certainly do at least, as their rotting faces all have a grotesque look to them and they all move the same way. When an older couple look towards me (and I feel really silly for doing this), I try to roll my eyes back and groan like one of them; hoping that my cover hasn't been blown.

Thank goodness these things are so stupid…

"I'll have to bust open the lock…" Lee mentions while still holding the hook at his side.

"How will we keep them from getting in?"

"We'll figure it out once we're inside. Keep them off of me…"

With that, I try to block their view of Lee as he sets to work on breaking into the apartment. I straighten my back and hold my arms a little further out at my sides, but it won't do much when they hear all the noise he's about to make.

And sure enough, when he starts smashing through the side of the doorway, Lee's inadvertently attracted some of their attention.

"Lee… they're coming…" I murmur, trying to get him to hear me as the older couple from earlier starts wondering what's going on. This is incredibly dangerous… Why didn't we pick either of the other two options?! What's the worst that could've happened?!

Holding the screwdriver at my side, I silently pray that Lee somehow miraculously gets the door open and I won't be forced to use this thing…

But knowing our luck, you should already know what happens by now.

I slice open the lady's head with the screwdriver, and her husband stumbles over to attack me as the rest of their posse looks towards us. Mr. Walker sure isn't happy that I've just killed Mrs. Walker, and abruptly ended their undead relationship, so he flails at me before succumbing to a screwdriver to the face.

"We're out of time!" I hiss quietly, turning my head towards Lee for just a moment as fear occupies my mind. "You need to get us in there!"

"Use your gun if you have to, Clem! Just keep them out of here!"

"Damn it…" I murmur, pulling out my pistol and firing the last two remaining bullets into a couple of walkers. They're providing a sort of road block for the rest of them, but it's only temporary, and there's no way that I'll be able to take them all on by myself. As they inch closer and closer to me, I get prepared for the worst.

Well, this plan has gone to shit, hasn't it?

"Lee?! Are you – UGH!"

He yanks me by the collar of my jacket and tosses me onto the floor as he struggles to hold the door in place. At least we've made it inside.

"Find something to block it with!" Lee orders, grunting as he pushes against the frame with his back. Okay, bossy pants!

Quickly scanning the room, the very first thing that I notice are the couches – unfortunately way too big and heavy for me to move by myself. But that rocking chair might do the trick!

"How about this?!" I ask him, getting behind the chair and moving it a little so that he can see.

"Perfect," he tells me, motioning with his head to the floor. "Bring it over, Clem! Hurry!"

"What's the magic word?"

"NOW, CLEMENTINE!" So much for manners, I guess.

Scrambling to drag it across the floor with a deafening screech, I grind my teeth together as time seems to slow down; the walkers have busted their hands through the tiny, little window near the front door. It's small enough so that they can't get in, but Lee's safety just dropped down significantly. He sees it too, but he can't afford to deal with it right now.

Finally, after what feels like forever, I bring the rocking chair all the way over as the two of us work as a team to lean it up against the door. When Lee moves to push it with me, the door slightly swings open and we can both see the walkers trying their hardest to barge in.

"They're breaking through!" I shout; fear paralyzing my eyes as one of the walkers almost manage to grab onto me. Good thing that my hair's so short!

"No… they're not…" Lee wheezes, pushing against the frame with all of his might before shutting the door completely. Using Lee's hook, I cut off their hands trying to break in through the window and gag as the limbs fall onto the hardwood floor. We lock the chair securely into place underneath the door handle and sigh in absolute relief – we've done it.

"That…" I huff out, sliding down to the floor beside him, "…was too close…"

"You said it," Lee agrees chuckling slightly at our uncanny luck as he leans his head backwards.

"We made it, though! We're both safe!"

"Damn right!" he agrees, his chuckling turning into full-scale laughter. "We ain't exactly out of the woods just yet, but man does it feel good to be here! I think our luck's finally starting to come around! I told you, Clem – you're my good luck charm."

"It must be the hat," I comment, giggling as he takes it off me and tries to put it on himself. "I think it looks better on me, though."

…

"Find anything yet?" Lee calls down the stairs; his loud voice coming in clearly.

Scanning through the cabinets, my heart soars and my mouth waters as I pull out two Rice Krispie Squares – one for each of us. I don't really care that they're expired; just that I can enjoy the mouth-watering goodness of one after not having anything like it in the longest time.

Besides, it's the only food I could find in this place anyways.

"Not much, but yeah," I respond, heading up the stairs to see Lee preparing the sleeping arrangements. "You don't snore, do you?"

Looking indignified in a joking way, Lee scoffs at the very idea. "No way," he huffs, sticking his tongue out at me playfully as he tosses me a small, worn-out blanket. "But if I do, just chuck a pillow at my head or something. That might work."

"_Great._"

Smirking, Lee sighs contently as he rests upon his lumpy mattress and gazes up at the ceiling with his hands behind his head. Looking at him now, I've got to say that I've never seen him this relaxed before. Maybe it's just the fact that we no longer have to worry about Nate and his crew coming after us, or that we're finally staying in a place that's actually secure. There aren't that many walkers around these parts, even though their incessant banging against the door is probably gonna keep me up for most of the night. But I'm glad that Lee's finally starting to let some of his old self show again – it's been far too long.

Walking over to my sleeping area, I plop a squat on the mattress and try to roll out all of the kinks. The springs in it squeak every time you move too much, but luckily I'm light enough that it probably won't be a problem for me. It's one of those pull-out cots that you find in a lot of hotels, so it's not the most comfortable thing in the world, but it certainly beats the crap out of the Wellington beds. I'm pretty sure those things were made of rocks.

"Isn't this better?" Lee asks, not moving his view away from the ceiling as I toss a Rice Krispie square his way. "We're finally out of the cold… I never thought that it'd be this easy."

"It never is," I quip, snuggling myself up underneath the covers as I begin to eat a very stale treat. Hey, it's better than nothing.

Nodding silently, Lee rubs a hand over his tired eyes and yawns. "I haven't had a good night's rest like this since we left the motor-inn," he reminisces, also taking a bite out of his food. "Ever since we got separated, it was always just about surviving. There wasn't any time to get comfy – Molly and I never stayed in the same place twice, so we were on the move all the time. And after she was gone, I just became so restless. Somehow I managed to get by on just a few hours of sleep per day, and now… to come to this, it's a bit mind-blowing, really."

"It was the same way when I was with Lilly and Duck," I explain as he turns to listen intently to me. "She just kept on saying how we needed to move north, and that nothing else was more important. Lilly hardly ever let one of us take watch, so I had to force her just so that she'd be able to stay awake sometimes. I think she was still coping with losing her dad like that…"

"That must have been hard."

"Yeah… it was," I reply sadly, embracing the small amount of warmth that this thin blanket can provide. "She was sad a lot of the time – we all were."

Lee says nothing for a moment, as if he's recalling that fateful day when he had to put down my parents. It was the single most devastating experience I've ever had to deal with, and I'm not afraid to admit that I still get nightmares about it from time to time. It just wasn't fair – life never is. I learned that lesson a long time ago.

"Look how far we've come, huh?" Lee says suddenly, trying to brighten up the mood. "Even after everything that's happened, after all the nonsense and BS we've been through, it's you and me on the other side."

"Yeah…"

"We're gonna make this work, Clementine," Lee says softly, noticing my depressed mood. "Nothing's gonna be perfect – hell, nothing ever is. But this place… we can turn this into a home, sweet pea! Once the walkers are dealt with, we can go scrounging for supplies around here, maybe board up some of the windows. And… if you want, we can go launch off that last firecracker."

"Really?" I ask, surprised that he thinks there's still a chance.

"Yeah… if they've been following the other two, then we've gotta light up the last one just in case."

"Since when did you become so peppy?"

"Since I met you, sassy pants," he snidely remarks before leaning on his side. "Goodnight, Clem."

"Night, Lee…"

…..

Two days and nights have passed, and I still can't sleep. We set off the last firecracker yesterday, after fighting our way past some of the walkers, so my mind should be at relative ease. But, obviously, it's not.

Throughout the night, I try my hardest to fall asleep, but to no avail. I shouldn't be having any problems with this – in fact, I should've passed out like a light as soon as my head hit the pillow. But I just can't do it. The combination of the constant thumping of the remaining walkers downstairs along with the million other things going on in my mind is preventing me from having a restful slumber.

I still haven't forgiven myself for their deaths – Kenny, Mike, Bonnie, Jane and everyone else at Wellington. Hell, even Sarah's still continues to haunt me; as if she's jeering at me from beyond the grave about how I let her and the rest of my friends down. I admitted this to Lee on the walk over to this place, and he tried to assure me that it wasn't my fault in any way.

But the last thing that I had said to Mike, Bonnie, Luke and Jane was that I didn't want anything to do with them.

What could they possibly have thought of me in their dying breaths? Even though I was totally upset at them for kicking Lee out, it still didn't give me a reason to say that they were dead to me. And yet, even as they were faced with terrible odds at the hands of Nate and Tavia's army, they _still _stood up for me.

I don't think that I deserved such good friends.

Scratching those thoughts aside, I sit up and look to my left as Lee tosses and turns in his sleep; making occasional grunts and unintelligible moans as he dreams. Sweat's already starting to form upon his brow, and he gasps for air as he awakens, looking around the room for any would-be assailants.

"Nightmare?" I question simply, receiving a nod from the older man as he rubs his eyes in thought. "I hate bad dreams…"

"Preaching to the choir, Clem," he sighs, no doubt trying to shake off whatever's been troubling him. "But god damn, it felt so real…"

"What was it about?" I ask, going over to the drawer and pulling out a couple sheets of paper as well as the crayons that we found in one of the houses earlier today. I forgot how much I loved to draw, and it's not as if either of us are going to go back to sleep any time soon.

"Eddie…" he admits; surprising me as he hasn't brought it up since it happened. "It was about Eddie… after he died, everyone looked at me like I was some sort of monster. But I don't need to bother you with this stuff, you're still just – "

"Your friend," I remind him calmly, meaning that I'm not just some random kid that he can't explain his problems to. That being said, the fire-breathing dragon that I've just begun to draw says that I'm still a child at heart.

"Yeah… you're right," he admits, slowly nodding his head as he watches my handiwork. My drawing skills have declined rapidly over the past two years, since I didn't really have the time, materials or desire to do it anymore. But now… it just feels like I have a sort of _obligation _to my younger self to start this up again. Call me crazy if you like, but it's true.

"He's in a better place now," I tell him, knowing that he probably doesn't want to be told that it wasn't his fault. "They would've ended up killing him anyway – better to come from someone he liked."

"I guess you're right. You usually are about things these days."

"Hmph, more like I'm _always _right!"

"Don't push your luck, kid," Lee jokes, until his gaze lands upon the old portable CD player that we had dug up in the same house that I found the crayons. I stil can't believe that the thing still works. "Man… I used to have one just like this when I was growing up, until everyone started using their cell phones instead."

I don't comment on that matter, since I was never at an age where music was really a hobby in my life. I was always content with my drawings, or playing games up in my tree house.

"I found that CD you were carrying around in the gym bag," he explains, and I look upon the player for just a split-second. "O' Children" by Nick Cave… why does it always come back to this song? The same one my mother played for me, is now being played by Lee. I guess that Lee's sort of like a third parent in some sense… the way he cares about me certainly proves that. With a quick snapping shut of the case, Lee presses the play button and waits for the song to commence.

The initial melody plays upon his ears, and he slowly starts to rock himself back and forth to the beat. I've heard this so many times that I don't even look up from my drawing. Now to draw the castle…

"It's pretty nice," Lee comments quietly, tapping his fingers along as he looks at a face-down picture just sitting there on one of the shelves. Picking it up, he blows the dust off and wipes away some of the dirt, revealing a young girl with long, flowing brown hair that went down to her shoulders. She's got her arm wrapped around some dorky-looking guy in a baby-blue suit, but the both of them look really happy together.

"What's that?" I ask absentmindedly, still doodling away.

"It's a prom picture, by the looks of it.

"Prom?" I ask, the word sounding foreign to me. "What's that?"

Cracking his back, Lee studies the picture for a moment before handing it over to me. "It's a high school dance for kids who are graduating," he explains, examining my drawing despite my protests. "It's basically just a big party for celebrating their years at high school."

"I suck at dancing," I explain, getting a low chuckle out of the man. "What? It's hard! And the only thing I ever knew how to do was the chicken dance!"

"C'mere," he tells me, offering me a hand as I look at him questioningly. What's he doing? "I'll show you how – it's not so bad once you get the hang of it."

Extremely hesitantly, I take his hand and stand in the center of the room as he starts to sway back and forth. This… is kind of awkward. Not weird awkward, because I know Lee really well and love him like he's my own father. But… it's because he's only got one arm, and my prosthetic leg is making me even more self-conscious than I would've been normally.

Lee doesn't seem to care though, as he makes funny faces at me and looks as though he's the happiest guy in the world.

Given the world that we live in, I wouldn't be surprised if he was.

But his enjoyment has always been infectious, and I can't help but giggle a little as I clumsily try to match his movements. He twirls me around a little bit, and suddenly I feel like the apocalypse never happened – as if right now, none of the problems outside even matter. Society has returned to normal, and none of my anxieties have any weight to them.

This reminds me so much of being with my Dad that for one second I forget that he isn't here anymore. In fact, both of my parents are smiling down at me; proud at how far I've come and matured over such a short time, and happy that I've got a father-figure as awesome as Lee looking out for me. Deep down, I also feel a small sense of pride that I've grown to an extent where I can protect him as well.

As the song dies down and we both return to what we were doing before, I smile happily for the first time in quite a while. Lee's got a talent for making things look less bleak than they really are.

About thirty minutes have passed (or at least it's felt like that), and I'm still trying to think of what to add to my drawing. Tonight's been really special – and it's given me a much-needed distraction from worrying about surviving all the time.

But GRRR! What in the world is this thing missing?! I've got the dragon breathing fire against the castle, as well as the knights trying to fight him off, but the drawing still looks kind of crappy. Not my best work by any stretch of the imagination.

Suddenly, I hear the sound of Lee chuckling so hard that I think he's going to cry. What's so funny? It better not be about how shitty of an artist I've become over the years!

"What is it?" I ask inquisitively, not bothering to show my annoyance at being interrupted from my work. Not bothering to explain it to me, Lee simply gestures to the window with his thumb and smirks as I walk over to the window.

And what I see gives me a small glimmer of hope that things will be alright – I see what Lee was chuckling about.

What are the odds that Lilly and Luke actually managed to travel towards the firecracker and find this place, even though the thing disappeared moments after we set it off?

Smiling towards Lee, he nods his head as the two of us go downstairs to finish off the walkers and rejoin our companions. We can finally have a real family once again.

_AN: Welp, that's it! Three endings, just like I promised. Hopefully you found them interesting, even though you probably want to shoot me over the second one lol. Anyways, I just wanted to thank you guys for all your constant support over this series. It's been an absolute pleasure to write this, and hopefully if school doesn't become too much of a hassle then I might be able to write something else. Until then, thanks for reading!_

_Leafs Nation _


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